Post by Kenzi Grey on Jul 22, 2016 22:58:52 GMT -5
Los Angeles, CA
12 July 2016
Kenzi Grey had only been in Los Angeles a few hours, but already her job with LAW was intruding on her life. She had barely had a chance to get to Tina Hall’s apartment and get unpacked when the corporate office called to remind her that she was to obtain the services of a licensed therapist in order to comply with the order of Megan Helms-King. Kenzi and her publicist/attorney had informed the General Manager of the ‘harassment’ she had endured after she and Jamilyn Cornett were both labeled as promiscuous by the owner of LAW, Lucas Dupree. Kenzi had hoped to garner a bit of sympathy and parley that into getting what she really wanted, a title opportunity, but MHK had countered that offer with her usual motherly caring; directing her to get counseling, just as she’d done to Jamilyn. That hadn’t been the plan or the way she had hoped things would go, but she was powerless to change it now. She’d have to follow through with the ordered treatment and hope that LAW finally honored its word and gave her the opportunity she had earned…
…for now, there were more immediate issues that concerned Kenzi, namely the odd relationship between her and Tina…
Tina had made it no secret that she ‘loved’ Kenzi, but her odd behavior often confused Kenzi more than anything else. Tina was a recovering addict living off of her heritance with her alcoholic, and slightly crazy sister Aria Davies. When Kenzi first met Tina, the two immediately bonded over their shared habit of getting drunk and getting into trouble. The pair complimented and enabled one another until Tina had a near-fatal case of alcohol poisoning. This served as a wakeup call for her but Kenzi had no desire to slow down. Tina entered rehab and Kenzi, feeling alone and abandoned sought solace in the waiting arms of Jamilyn Cornett, who fed Kenzi’s desire for what she thought was love.
Tina left treatment early to convince Kenzi that she was the one who really loved and cared about her. Tina stood by Kenzi after Jamilyn revealed that her plan was to break her heart all along. To her credit, she continued to stick by Kenzi, even after she had forgiven Jamilyn and continued to pine for her. Tina had proven herself to be special in more ways than one…but still Kenzi hesitated to return the love that she continued to show to her. Was it out of fear of being hurt again or fear that she would hurt Tina?
Tina had been more than respectful of Kenzi’s need to keep their relationship plutonic as she allowed her to move in with her and her sister. Kenzi found herself on edge with the two women, but for entirely different reasons. Aria was constantly drunk and smoked like a train…both things that Kenzi desperately wanted to do…but seeing her erratic behavior scared her more than anything. With Tina, things were a bit more complex. Every bone in her body screamed for her to be with Tina…even Jamilyn had begged her to…but she hesitated every time she felt herself ready to commit. She didn’t know when she’d be ready…if she’d ever be ready ever again.
After unpacking, Kenzi found herself standing in the same uncomfortable silence that often came between her and Tina in recent weeks. It was deafening and unnerving. Kenzi wanted to speak…she wanted to say something profound that would loosen the girl’s tongue and get her to say something…to say anything at all. She shuffled nervously on her feet, “It’s hot in LA, huh?”
Tina gave a shrug, “Not all the time…” Tina’s lovely brown eyes focused intently on Kenzi, then she dropped them to her feet. “There’s towels and whatnot in the cabinet, yeah?”
Kenzi walked over and took Tina’s hand in hers and brought it to her lips, then pressed it to the side of her face. “I’m sorry Tina…I know what you want, and maybe I want it too…but I need time and I think you need it as well.” Kenzi swore as she let go of Tina’s hand and checked the time. “SHIT! I’m going to be late!” She threw her arms around Tina, holding the girl as she stood there, ramrod still. Kenzi kissed her on the cheek, “We’ll work this out…okay?”
Kenzi turned to head out the door, but nearly ran right into Tina’s sister, Aria.
The woman was already reeking of booze and swaying unsteadily on her feet, despite the hour. The woman narrowed her eyes at Kenzi as she spoke, “Oi! What’s this going on about? You two getting it on in here you nasty buggers? Before you do, I need some more smokes!” She nodded in Kenzi’s direction, “I’m on the piss, can you bring me some back…I’ll pay you later, right?”
Kenzi batted her eyelashes to ward off the strong smell of booze wafting off the girl. “Eh…yeah…what kind?”
She glared at her, “THE FUCKING GOOD ONES YOU BLOODY IDIOT!” She looked past Kenzi at her sister, “Where’d you find this one here Tina? Asking me stupid fucking questions like that, eh?!” Aria glared at Kenzi, then pointed at her, “Don’t hose it up idiot!”
As Aria stumbled off, Kenzi turned and looked at Tina with a questioning look on her face. Tina mouthed the name of Aria’s favorite brand of cigarettes, sparing Kenzi the embarrassment of being in the girl’s line of fire again. Kenzi pressed her hands together as she silently proclaimed the woman to be a Godsent, then turned and headed out the door. Today would be the first day that she met with her therapist, the renowned Doctor Steven Holmes…
Kenzi walked into the well decorated office of Dr. Steven Holmes PsyD in downtown Los Angeles. The facility was richly decorated and modern in every since of the word. Apparently Dr. Holmes made a good living off the sickness of others…a VERY good living. The waiting area was populated by only a few people, but they all seemed to be quite a few rungs above her in the social hierarchy. It was more likely that these people also sought therapy for their pets as well. Kenzi wrapped her arms around herself protectively as she headed up to the receptionist, a curt looking redhead with wireframe glasses that made her look far older than she actually was. “Hello…I’m Ke…”
“Ms. Grey…Dr. Holmes has been expecting you.” The woman smiled and keyed a button that buzzed and unlocked a door to Kenzi’s right. “You can head right in. Just follow the hallway straight back. Dr. Holmes is right at the end of the hall. You won’t miss it.”
Kenzi paused, looking around at the other people who were waiting in their seats. All eyes appeared to be on her and the apparently preferential treatment she was getting. Kenzi nodded to the woman and walked through the door. The hallway stretched on for some distance, but even from here she could see the large nameplate on the door at the end of the hall. She sighed and started her long walk, eyeing the paintings on the wall depicting scenes from everyday life in the city. They seemed to be odd choices to her, as she expected things like Sigmund Freud and maybe some Victorian era scenes, but apparently Dr. Holmes was more enamored with common folks than he was with other things.
Kenzi reached the door and just as she was about to knock, it opened and she was greeted by thin man with an angular face, dressed in an expensive looking suit. He smiled at her, baring a mouth full of teeth that all seemed to have their own ideas about which way they should have been going. She couldn’t immediately figure out why, but he seemed incredibly familiar.
He smiled at her, “Kenzi! Great! I’ve been waiting for you!” He ushered her inside and closed the door, showing her to her seat as he sat down across from her. He smiled broadly as he let out a long sigh. “Well…here you are!”
Kenzi raised her eyebrows, still seeming utterly confused. “Dr. Holmes…I…I’m not sure about any of this.”
Dr. Holmes started to laugh as he realized that she still didn’t recognize him. He leaned forward, peering right into her eyes, “Kenzi…it’s me…it’s Steve…” Kenzi still didn’t react, just narrowed her eye a bit. Steve shook his head, sitting back and throwing up his hands. “Homeless Steve! It’s me!!”
Kenzi’s eyes grew wide as her hands flew to her mouth. “OH MY GOD, STEVE!!!” She could hardly believe what she was seeing. He was dressed impeccably and was as fresh as a daisy. “How…I mean…when did you get off the street?”
Steve chuckled, gesturing around him, “This is just a place of business…my base of operations. The Board of Physicians says that I have to have it…so, this is where I spend one day a month…just to keep the old curmudgeons off my back.” He reached behind him and pulled out a dirty duffle bag and gave it a pat. The unmistakable aroma of homeless desperation wafted out. “Here…this is where I start to live my real life…” he pointed outside, “…out there where I really belong.”
Kenzi frowned, still finding it difficult to process what she was being told. “You’re Homeless…Homeless Steve.” She said it as if she were trying to convince herself. She looked around at the lavish office, “But this is all yours…you own this business!”
Steve looked around and nodded as if he was really taking stock of it as well finally. “Yeah, I guess it is, but I don’t look at this place as anything other than a means to an end. I want to help people Ms. Grey…and I want to help you.” Steve got up and walked over to his desk and picked up the single file that was left there. He waved it in the air as he danced back over and plopped down in his chair, dropping the papers in his lap and giving them a generous pat. “I have right here…the file that LAW sent over on you. I must say, Ms. Megan Helms-King is organized…annoyingly so! But, the fact remains that you have been a very busy and a very naughty girl Ms. Grey.”
Kenzi’s mood instantly darkened, “What in the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He pointed at her, “It probably means that!” He flipped through the pages, shaking his head, “You have had a colorful past…yes indeed! OUCH!” He stared at Kenzi, “Did you have one of your friends try to rundown Roxi Johnson?”
Kenzi sighed, rolling her eyes, “I asked my friend to scare her…not hit her. She didn’t get rundown.”
Steven read over it again, then looked up at her, “Says you hired someone to run her down right here.”
Kenzi gave him the finger, “I didn’t!”
He raised his hands, “Fair enough! I’m not making any judgements. Hell, I sleep in a cardboard box! But let’s be honest with one another…you’re here for a reason and you know what that reason is, don’t you?”
Kenzi sniffed, shrugging her shoulders, “LAW is filled with bitches!”
He paused, his finger hovering in the air, “No…not what I was going to say…not at all…”
Okay, I won’t bore any of you with my family history and abandonment issues. That goes without saying, my mother is Sidney Grey…case closed there. I’ll just give you the highlights…such as they are; we talked about my mother leaving me with my grandmother and how I was constantly starved for the attention of a drug and alcohol addicted lunatic. Even when I was young, my grandmother couldn’t handle me. I was a tiny terror and the more my Gram loved me, the shittier I acted. I was my mother’s child…and not even my own mother wanted me.
We talked about the first signs of my Borderline Personality Disorder showing up in school when I was 12…that’s when I got the diagnosis. It was hard for me to make friends, harder still to keep them. I fought…violently, especially for a child. I was expelled, I became destructive, nearly burning down my Gram’s house…on four separate occasions. The last time I nearly killed my Gram while she slept in her bed…the room all on fire around her. The State nearly took me away, but my Gram kept fighting to keep me.
My mother returned, ready to try to be just that, a mother…for the first time. I was way out of control by then. They tried medication and everything else they could think of, but nothing worked. I was nearly locked up after I beat a boy with a bat for looking at other girls after I had met him that very same day. If my mother hadn’t taken me with her, I probably would have gotten worse.
We talked for hours and before long I was feeling at ease with Dr. Steve. Of course, the feeling wasn’t mutual…at least not until I allowed him to peel off his suit and tie and cloak himself in the rags of his more comfortable alter-ego, Homeless Steve. After taking things a few blocks away from my new home with Tina and her asshole of a sister, he settled in easily and our conversation flowed easily enough.
I don’t know if this man is a crackpot, a genius, or something in-between…but if there is even a chance in hell that he can help me…I’d like to give this a try.
Los Angeles, CA
20 July 2016
Life in the Hall household for Kenzi was difficult at first. Not because Tina and her sister, Aria Davies were not hospitable (well, Tina wasn’t), but the tension between Kenzi and Tina made things…strange. Tina had made no bones about how she felt. She loved Kenzi and she was willing to wait as long as it took for her to come around and get off the Jamilyn Cornett crazy train…but that was easier said than done. In the meantime, Kenzi continued her sessions with Dr. Steve in earnest, taking on new challenges every day that tested her patience and pushed her to her breaking point.
Recovery was never going to be an easy road and for Kenzi, she had a very long way to go, but she never gave up…but still there was always those lingering voices that belittled her efforts and attempted to sabotage her attempts at wellness. Kenzi expected it from the likes of Keira Fisher and Jenny Tuck, but she never expected it from the one person that she thought wanted nothing more for her than her recovery…
I probably shouldn’t talk about her, but she can’t stop talking about be…behind my back. Jamilyn Cornett…the woman that told me repeatedly that she loved me and wanted to be with me…she would do whatever it took to see us together. Yeah…she lied…either to sleep with me and humiliate me or maybe the sex was just a fringe benefit? I don’t know…but we moved past that and came to an understanding at LAW 50. We would go our separate ways. She sought treatment for her sex addiction and I was directed to get therapy for my personality dysfunction.
I wasn’t happy about being separated from Jami…I still loved and supported her, but if her recovery was more effective with me out of the picture, I would stay out of it and support her from afar. Well, it wasn’t long before she found the treatment methods of my doctor to be less than satisfactory…proclaiming it to be a mockery. I suppose that’s fine…but how did she explain her inability to stop the actions that led to her own treatment…or lack thereof? Either way, it wasn’t long before I was blocked from watching her from afar and so were any of the people who dared to associate with me. I didn’t complain, because I thought that this was what she needed to get the results she desired. I put my want and need to see her aside…focusing on my own recovery, such as it was. Just as I felt as though the scale was finally starting to tip in my favor…I have to endure more slanderous attacks leveled at me as she complained to management about the ‘free pass’ I got while she got shafted!
It’s hard to try to convince someone that you care about them when they don’t want to see or hear from you. When they create their own fiction to tear you down so they can build themselves up, it’s hurtful. It was at that moment that I truly began to realize that regardless of how I still felt about Jamilyn, the fact of the matter was that she had no love for me, no regard for my feelings, and now respect for me as a person. She had gone from telling me that she loved me to saying that I was destroying her career in the company…
…because at the end of the day, isn’t that what it was really all about…?
I gave her my entire heart because I thought we completed each other, but that was never the case at all. I was a means to an end for her, and once she had disposed of me, it was on to the next phase of her plan. I was stupid to have thought that someone who cared for no one would ever care for me. My stupid brain didn’t know any better, so…this was it. Reality had come crashing down around me and when I thought I was at my lowest point…Tina was there to pick up the broken pieces that were left behind…
It was Kenzi’s birthday…but unlike her other friends who delighted in such things, Kenzi never mentioned it once. She had hoped that the day would pass by unnoticed, but more than a few who actually cared about her, sent her well wishes on her special day…a day she spent with Tina and her new pet…a puppy that Kenzi had callously named Dog. While animals were never her thing, she really only craved one thing and one thing only…someone to spend the time with her that she was starved for.
Tina had told her that she would never rush her…she would not force her to make a choice. She would wait until Kenzi was good and ready…no pressure, just a shoulder to lean on. As it turned out, that was all that Kenzi really wanted for her birthday. Dog was cute, but having Tina near her was much better. She only wanted to be held as she lay in her bed, thinking about how far she had come with her treatment and how it had been mocked and she had been discounted as nothing but a mental case that was not worthy of anything she had received or earned with her own two hands.
Clarity didn’t come all at once as she lay in Tina’s embrace finally opening herself up to the possibility that she had closed her eyes to the one thing that could really and truly complete her…and that was completing someone else. Kenzi had always thought that her 21st birthday would be a celebration that would only be seen by her through a drunken haze, but what she got instead was much better than that. Kenzi spent the night with someone who wanted nothing more than to be with her and only her…someone that felt complete when she was with her…someone that didn’t try to drag her down to raise themselves up. Tina needed Kenzi just as much as Kenzi needed her and at least for the moment, the two broken halves came together to complete a beautiful picture that they both could finally learn to enjoy…
I won’t bore you anymore with talk of Jamilyn Cornett because that ship has sailed and in closing that chapter of my life, I am exercising a demon that I should have never allowed to darken my door. Of that, I will only say this…perhaps she had the right idea all along. At the end of the day, being a member of the LAW roster means one thing and one thing only…achieving success inside the squared circle…performing in front of thousands in attendance and millions around the world. If you weren’t succeeding between the ropes…why were you there in the first place?
On the last show, I made a huge statement when I defeated Mackenzie Roberts, the current and reigning Marquee Champion. I won’t lie, it was touch and go at first. Mack is one hell of a fighter…especially when she has Alexis Blake hobbling to the ring and trying to take me down with her crutches. On that night, luck was on my side…and so was Miyoko Oshiro as she made sure that the odds stayed even and I got my chance to do what Megan Helms-King said I must in order to earn opportunity…and that’s beat a standing champion. Well…on that night, there was no power in the Verse that was going to stop me and at the end of the night, I defeated the second greatest Marquee Champion in history!
Well…opportunity was promised, but it damn sure wasn’t realize…not like it was for Keira Fisher. She lost to me at the last PPV and then defeated Mackenzie Roberts on the next show and she got a LAW Title shot for her efforts. I won at the PPV and defeated the Marquee Champion, yet I get nothing? What more do I need to do? Defeat Gabby Camacho? I could do it…and anyone that dared to say that I couldn’t would be lying to the masses and especially themselves!
Well, proving myself on my own wasn’t enough…instead, I must prove myself against Eliza Valentine and Kayla Richards…but, at least I don’t have to do it alone. Just like last show when Miyoko evened the odds, she’ll do the same thing again when I face one of the best tag teams in LAW. The Valentine Syndicate or whatever they care to call themselves are no strangers to wrestling and no strangers to putting opponents on their backs to move themselves up the ladder. The problem with that is that Miyoko and I are trying to do the same thing…as a newly minted team or as individuals with our eyes fixed firmly on one thing…getting our hands on a LAW Championship.
I know that Eliza and Kayla don’t put much stock in a girl that has only just now won her second match in LAW and a woman returning from an injury after several weeks on the shelf. We probably seem like easy pickings…but we are anything but. Miyoko came within an eyelash of beating the Breakout Champion…the same woman that soundly defeated the current LAW Champion. As for me…I beat a 2-time Breakout Champion and the woman that holds one of the most prestigious titles in the business. Do you really think that you are going to run roughshod over the two of us at the end of the day?
Girls…welcome back to LAW…but I’m sorry to tell you, the days of taking the easy path to the top is over and done! Miyoko and I have but a single goal in mind, spoiling your debut and continuing our rise to the top in this company! We aren’t stepping stones…but someone is going to get stepped on at LAW 51, but it won’t be who you think!
See you out there bitches!
12 July 2016
Kenzi Grey had only been in Los Angeles a few hours, but already her job with LAW was intruding on her life. She had barely had a chance to get to Tina Hall’s apartment and get unpacked when the corporate office called to remind her that she was to obtain the services of a licensed therapist in order to comply with the order of Megan Helms-King. Kenzi and her publicist/attorney had informed the General Manager of the ‘harassment’ she had endured after she and Jamilyn Cornett were both labeled as promiscuous by the owner of LAW, Lucas Dupree. Kenzi had hoped to garner a bit of sympathy and parley that into getting what she really wanted, a title opportunity, but MHK had countered that offer with her usual motherly caring; directing her to get counseling, just as she’d done to Jamilyn. That hadn’t been the plan or the way she had hoped things would go, but she was powerless to change it now. She’d have to follow through with the ordered treatment and hope that LAW finally honored its word and gave her the opportunity she had earned…
…for now, there were more immediate issues that concerned Kenzi, namely the odd relationship between her and Tina…
Tina had made it no secret that she ‘loved’ Kenzi, but her odd behavior often confused Kenzi more than anything else. Tina was a recovering addict living off of her heritance with her alcoholic, and slightly crazy sister Aria Davies. When Kenzi first met Tina, the two immediately bonded over their shared habit of getting drunk and getting into trouble. The pair complimented and enabled one another until Tina had a near-fatal case of alcohol poisoning. This served as a wakeup call for her but Kenzi had no desire to slow down. Tina entered rehab and Kenzi, feeling alone and abandoned sought solace in the waiting arms of Jamilyn Cornett, who fed Kenzi’s desire for what she thought was love.
Tina left treatment early to convince Kenzi that she was the one who really loved and cared about her. Tina stood by Kenzi after Jamilyn revealed that her plan was to break her heart all along. To her credit, she continued to stick by Kenzi, even after she had forgiven Jamilyn and continued to pine for her. Tina had proven herself to be special in more ways than one…but still Kenzi hesitated to return the love that she continued to show to her. Was it out of fear of being hurt again or fear that she would hurt Tina?
Tina had been more than respectful of Kenzi’s need to keep their relationship plutonic as she allowed her to move in with her and her sister. Kenzi found herself on edge with the two women, but for entirely different reasons. Aria was constantly drunk and smoked like a train…both things that Kenzi desperately wanted to do…but seeing her erratic behavior scared her more than anything. With Tina, things were a bit more complex. Every bone in her body screamed for her to be with Tina…even Jamilyn had begged her to…but she hesitated every time she felt herself ready to commit. She didn’t know when she’d be ready…if she’d ever be ready ever again.
After unpacking, Kenzi found herself standing in the same uncomfortable silence that often came between her and Tina in recent weeks. It was deafening and unnerving. Kenzi wanted to speak…she wanted to say something profound that would loosen the girl’s tongue and get her to say something…to say anything at all. She shuffled nervously on her feet, “It’s hot in LA, huh?”
Tina gave a shrug, “Not all the time…” Tina’s lovely brown eyes focused intently on Kenzi, then she dropped them to her feet. “There’s towels and whatnot in the cabinet, yeah?”
Kenzi walked over and took Tina’s hand in hers and brought it to her lips, then pressed it to the side of her face. “I’m sorry Tina…I know what you want, and maybe I want it too…but I need time and I think you need it as well.” Kenzi swore as she let go of Tina’s hand and checked the time. “SHIT! I’m going to be late!” She threw her arms around Tina, holding the girl as she stood there, ramrod still. Kenzi kissed her on the cheek, “We’ll work this out…okay?”
Kenzi turned to head out the door, but nearly ran right into Tina’s sister, Aria.
The woman was already reeking of booze and swaying unsteadily on her feet, despite the hour. The woman narrowed her eyes at Kenzi as she spoke, “Oi! What’s this going on about? You two getting it on in here you nasty buggers? Before you do, I need some more smokes!” She nodded in Kenzi’s direction, “I’m on the piss, can you bring me some back…I’ll pay you later, right?”
Kenzi batted her eyelashes to ward off the strong smell of booze wafting off the girl. “Eh…yeah…what kind?”
She glared at her, “THE FUCKING GOOD ONES YOU BLOODY IDIOT!” She looked past Kenzi at her sister, “Where’d you find this one here Tina? Asking me stupid fucking questions like that, eh?!” Aria glared at Kenzi, then pointed at her, “Don’t hose it up idiot!”
As Aria stumbled off, Kenzi turned and looked at Tina with a questioning look on her face. Tina mouthed the name of Aria’s favorite brand of cigarettes, sparing Kenzi the embarrassment of being in the girl’s line of fire again. Kenzi pressed her hands together as she silently proclaimed the woman to be a Godsent, then turned and headed out the door. Today would be the first day that she met with her therapist, the renowned Doctor Steven Holmes…
Kenzi walked into the well decorated office of Dr. Steven Holmes PsyD in downtown Los Angeles. The facility was richly decorated and modern in every since of the word. Apparently Dr. Holmes made a good living off the sickness of others…a VERY good living. The waiting area was populated by only a few people, but they all seemed to be quite a few rungs above her in the social hierarchy. It was more likely that these people also sought therapy for their pets as well. Kenzi wrapped her arms around herself protectively as she headed up to the receptionist, a curt looking redhead with wireframe glasses that made her look far older than she actually was. “Hello…I’m Ke…”
“Ms. Grey…Dr. Holmes has been expecting you.” The woman smiled and keyed a button that buzzed and unlocked a door to Kenzi’s right. “You can head right in. Just follow the hallway straight back. Dr. Holmes is right at the end of the hall. You won’t miss it.”
Kenzi paused, looking around at the other people who were waiting in their seats. All eyes appeared to be on her and the apparently preferential treatment she was getting. Kenzi nodded to the woman and walked through the door. The hallway stretched on for some distance, but even from here she could see the large nameplate on the door at the end of the hall. She sighed and started her long walk, eyeing the paintings on the wall depicting scenes from everyday life in the city. They seemed to be odd choices to her, as she expected things like Sigmund Freud and maybe some Victorian era scenes, but apparently Dr. Holmes was more enamored with common folks than he was with other things.
Kenzi reached the door and just as she was about to knock, it opened and she was greeted by thin man with an angular face, dressed in an expensive looking suit. He smiled at her, baring a mouth full of teeth that all seemed to have their own ideas about which way they should have been going. She couldn’t immediately figure out why, but he seemed incredibly familiar.
He smiled at her, “Kenzi! Great! I’ve been waiting for you!” He ushered her inside and closed the door, showing her to her seat as he sat down across from her. He smiled broadly as he let out a long sigh. “Well…here you are!”
Kenzi raised her eyebrows, still seeming utterly confused. “Dr. Holmes…I…I’m not sure about any of this.”
Dr. Holmes started to laugh as he realized that she still didn’t recognize him. He leaned forward, peering right into her eyes, “Kenzi…it’s me…it’s Steve…” Kenzi still didn’t react, just narrowed her eye a bit. Steve shook his head, sitting back and throwing up his hands. “Homeless Steve! It’s me!!”
Kenzi’s eyes grew wide as her hands flew to her mouth. “OH MY GOD, STEVE!!!” She could hardly believe what she was seeing. He was dressed impeccably and was as fresh as a daisy. “How…I mean…when did you get off the street?”
Steve chuckled, gesturing around him, “This is just a place of business…my base of operations. The Board of Physicians says that I have to have it…so, this is where I spend one day a month…just to keep the old curmudgeons off my back.” He reached behind him and pulled out a dirty duffle bag and gave it a pat. The unmistakable aroma of homeless desperation wafted out. “Here…this is where I start to live my real life…” he pointed outside, “…out there where I really belong.”
Kenzi frowned, still finding it difficult to process what she was being told. “You’re Homeless…Homeless Steve.” She said it as if she were trying to convince herself. She looked around at the lavish office, “But this is all yours…you own this business!”
Steve looked around and nodded as if he was really taking stock of it as well finally. “Yeah, I guess it is, but I don’t look at this place as anything other than a means to an end. I want to help people Ms. Grey…and I want to help you.” Steve got up and walked over to his desk and picked up the single file that was left there. He waved it in the air as he danced back over and plopped down in his chair, dropping the papers in his lap and giving them a generous pat. “I have right here…the file that LAW sent over on you. I must say, Ms. Megan Helms-King is organized…annoyingly so! But, the fact remains that you have been a very busy and a very naughty girl Ms. Grey.”
Kenzi’s mood instantly darkened, “What in the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He pointed at her, “It probably means that!” He flipped through the pages, shaking his head, “You have had a colorful past…yes indeed! OUCH!” He stared at Kenzi, “Did you have one of your friends try to rundown Roxi Johnson?”
Kenzi sighed, rolling her eyes, “I asked my friend to scare her…not hit her. She didn’t get rundown.”
Steven read over it again, then looked up at her, “Says you hired someone to run her down right here.”
Kenzi gave him the finger, “I didn’t!”
He raised his hands, “Fair enough! I’m not making any judgements. Hell, I sleep in a cardboard box! But let’s be honest with one another…you’re here for a reason and you know what that reason is, don’t you?”
Kenzi sniffed, shrugging her shoulders, “LAW is filled with bitches!”
He paused, his finger hovering in the air, “No…not what I was going to say…not at all…”
Candid Moment: Kenzi Grey
Okay, I won’t bore any of you with my family history and abandonment issues. That goes without saying, my mother is Sidney Grey…case closed there. I’ll just give you the highlights…such as they are; we talked about my mother leaving me with my grandmother and how I was constantly starved for the attention of a drug and alcohol addicted lunatic. Even when I was young, my grandmother couldn’t handle me. I was a tiny terror and the more my Gram loved me, the shittier I acted. I was my mother’s child…and not even my own mother wanted me.
We talked about the first signs of my Borderline Personality Disorder showing up in school when I was 12…that’s when I got the diagnosis. It was hard for me to make friends, harder still to keep them. I fought…violently, especially for a child. I was expelled, I became destructive, nearly burning down my Gram’s house…on four separate occasions. The last time I nearly killed my Gram while she slept in her bed…the room all on fire around her. The State nearly took me away, but my Gram kept fighting to keep me.
My mother returned, ready to try to be just that, a mother…for the first time. I was way out of control by then. They tried medication and everything else they could think of, but nothing worked. I was nearly locked up after I beat a boy with a bat for looking at other girls after I had met him that very same day. If my mother hadn’t taken me with her, I probably would have gotten worse.
We talked for hours and before long I was feeling at ease with Dr. Steve. Of course, the feeling wasn’t mutual…at least not until I allowed him to peel off his suit and tie and cloak himself in the rags of his more comfortable alter-ego, Homeless Steve. After taking things a few blocks away from my new home with Tina and her asshole of a sister, he settled in easily and our conversation flowed easily enough.
I don’t know if this man is a crackpot, a genius, or something in-between…but if there is even a chance in hell that he can help me…I’d like to give this a try.
Los Angeles, CA
20 July 2016
Life in the Hall household for Kenzi was difficult at first. Not because Tina and her sister, Aria Davies were not hospitable (well, Tina wasn’t), but the tension between Kenzi and Tina made things…strange. Tina had made no bones about how she felt. She loved Kenzi and she was willing to wait as long as it took for her to come around and get off the Jamilyn Cornett crazy train…but that was easier said than done. In the meantime, Kenzi continued her sessions with Dr. Steve in earnest, taking on new challenges every day that tested her patience and pushed her to her breaking point.
Recovery was never going to be an easy road and for Kenzi, she had a very long way to go, but she never gave up…but still there was always those lingering voices that belittled her efforts and attempted to sabotage her attempts at wellness. Kenzi expected it from the likes of Keira Fisher and Jenny Tuck, but she never expected it from the one person that she thought wanted nothing more for her than her recovery…
Candid Moment: Kenzi Grey
I probably shouldn’t talk about her, but she can’t stop talking about be…behind my back. Jamilyn Cornett…the woman that told me repeatedly that she loved me and wanted to be with me…she would do whatever it took to see us together. Yeah…she lied…either to sleep with me and humiliate me or maybe the sex was just a fringe benefit? I don’t know…but we moved past that and came to an understanding at LAW 50. We would go our separate ways. She sought treatment for her sex addiction and I was directed to get therapy for my personality dysfunction.
I wasn’t happy about being separated from Jami…I still loved and supported her, but if her recovery was more effective with me out of the picture, I would stay out of it and support her from afar. Well, it wasn’t long before she found the treatment methods of my doctor to be less than satisfactory…proclaiming it to be a mockery. I suppose that’s fine…but how did she explain her inability to stop the actions that led to her own treatment…or lack thereof? Either way, it wasn’t long before I was blocked from watching her from afar and so were any of the people who dared to associate with me. I didn’t complain, because I thought that this was what she needed to get the results she desired. I put my want and need to see her aside…focusing on my own recovery, such as it was. Just as I felt as though the scale was finally starting to tip in my favor…I have to endure more slanderous attacks leveled at me as she complained to management about the ‘free pass’ I got while she got shafted!
It’s hard to try to convince someone that you care about them when they don’t want to see or hear from you. When they create their own fiction to tear you down so they can build themselves up, it’s hurtful. It was at that moment that I truly began to realize that regardless of how I still felt about Jamilyn, the fact of the matter was that she had no love for me, no regard for my feelings, and now respect for me as a person. She had gone from telling me that she loved me to saying that I was destroying her career in the company…
…because at the end of the day, isn’t that what it was really all about…?
I gave her my entire heart because I thought we completed each other, but that was never the case at all. I was a means to an end for her, and once she had disposed of me, it was on to the next phase of her plan. I was stupid to have thought that someone who cared for no one would ever care for me. My stupid brain didn’t know any better, so…this was it. Reality had come crashing down around me and when I thought I was at my lowest point…Tina was there to pick up the broken pieces that were left behind…
It was Kenzi’s birthday…but unlike her other friends who delighted in such things, Kenzi never mentioned it once. She had hoped that the day would pass by unnoticed, but more than a few who actually cared about her, sent her well wishes on her special day…a day she spent with Tina and her new pet…a puppy that Kenzi had callously named Dog. While animals were never her thing, she really only craved one thing and one thing only…someone to spend the time with her that she was starved for.
Tina had told her that she would never rush her…she would not force her to make a choice. She would wait until Kenzi was good and ready…no pressure, just a shoulder to lean on. As it turned out, that was all that Kenzi really wanted for her birthday. Dog was cute, but having Tina near her was much better. She only wanted to be held as she lay in her bed, thinking about how far she had come with her treatment and how it had been mocked and she had been discounted as nothing but a mental case that was not worthy of anything she had received or earned with her own two hands.
Clarity didn’t come all at once as she lay in Tina’s embrace finally opening herself up to the possibility that she had closed her eyes to the one thing that could really and truly complete her…and that was completing someone else. Kenzi had always thought that her 21st birthday would be a celebration that would only be seen by her through a drunken haze, but what she got instead was much better than that. Kenzi spent the night with someone who wanted nothing more than to be with her and only her…someone that felt complete when she was with her…someone that didn’t try to drag her down to raise themselves up. Tina needed Kenzi just as much as Kenzi needed her and at least for the moment, the two broken halves came together to complete a beautiful picture that they both could finally learn to enjoy…
Candid Moment: Kenzi Grey
I won’t bore you anymore with talk of Jamilyn Cornett because that ship has sailed and in closing that chapter of my life, I am exercising a demon that I should have never allowed to darken my door. Of that, I will only say this…perhaps she had the right idea all along. At the end of the day, being a member of the LAW roster means one thing and one thing only…achieving success inside the squared circle…performing in front of thousands in attendance and millions around the world. If you weren’t succeeding between the ropes…why were you there in the first place?
On the last show, I made a huge statement when I defeated Mackenzie Roberts, the current and reigning Marquee Champion. I won’t lie, it was touch and go at first. Mack is one hell of a fighter…especially when she has Alexis Blake hobbling to the ring and trying to take me down with her crutches. On that night, luck was on my side…and so was Miyoko Oshiro as she made sure that the odds stayed even and I got my chance to do what Megan Helms-King said I must in order to earn opportunity…and that’s beat a standing champion. Well…on that night, there was no power in the Verse that was going to stop me and at the end of the night, I defeated the second greatest Marquee Champion in history!
Well…opportunity was promised, but it damn sure wasn’t realize…not like it was for Keira Fisher. She lost to me at the last PPV and then defeated Mackenzie Roberts on the next show and she got a LAW Title shot for her efforts. I won at the PPV and defeated the Marquee Champion, yet I get nothing? What more do I need to do? Defeat Gabby Camacho? I could do it…and anyone that dared to say that I couldn’t would be lying to the masses and especially themselves!
Well, proving myself on my own wasn’t enough…instead, I must prove myself against Eliza Valentine and Kayla Richards…but, at least I don’t have to do it alone. Just like last show when Miyoko evened the odds, she’ll do the same thing again when I face one of the best tag teams in LAW. The Valentine Syndicate or whatever they care to call themselves are no strangers to wrestling and no strangers to putting opponents on their backs to move themselves up the ladder. The problem with that is that Miyoko and I are trying to do the same thing…as a newly minted team or as individuals with our eyes fixed firmly on one thing…getting our hands on a LAW Championship.
I know that Eliza and Kayla don’t put much stock in a girl that has only just now won her second match in LAW and a woman returning from an injury after several weeks on the shelf. We probably seem like easy pickings…but we are anything but. Miyoko came within an eyelash of beating the Breakout Champion…the same woman that soundly defeated the current LAW Champion. As for me…I beat a 2-time Breakout Champion and the woman that holds one of the most prestigious titles in the business. Do you really think that you are going to run roughshod over the two of us at the end of the day?
Girls…welcome back to LAW…but I’m sorry to tell you, the days of taking the easy path to the top is over and done! Miyoko and I have but a single goal in mind, spoiling your debut and continuing our rise to the top in this company! We aren’t stepping stones…but someone is going to get stepped on at LAW 51, but it won’t be who you think!
See you out there bitches!