Post by Lissie Hope on Nov 6, 2019 1:56:49 GMT -5
DANDY DIVITO | LISSIE HOPE
ACTION WRESTLING PRESENTS: CLASH
WRESTLER OF THE YEAR - ROUND TWO
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
11-11-2019
ACTION WRESTLING PRESENTS: CLASH
WRESTLER OF THE YEAR - ROUND TWO
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
11-11-2019
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves. - William Shakespeare
// REWIND // to where it all began.
AWAKENING I | 11:11
The arrival of Lissie 'Fuckin Hope.
// REWIND // to where it all began.
AWAKENING I | 11:11
The arrival of Lissie 'Fuckin Hope.
26 March 2019
Sweet Lorraine’s Jazz Club
New Orleans
11:00 PM
“I’ve gotta say,” Robbie Hope began. “This is the craziest damn decision you’ve ever made. And I’ve seen you do some stupid shit, sis.”
“Well, I learned from the best!”
Lissie Hope didn’t like routine. Ever since fleeing small-town Texas for the big lights of New Orleans, she realized that her own spiritual and emotional fulfillment was linked to unpredictability. She liked not knowing where she would end every night. She liked never settling for the expected.
She never envisioned being average.
And she had found the perfect way to harness her athletic gifts, her natural charisma, and her competitive fire, and it came when she signed her first professional wrestling contract with Action Wrestling. Lissie was ready to show the world what she knew was always buried beneath the surface. She was prepared to embark on the toughest challenge she’s ever faced.
Or so she thought.
“Do you really think you’re ready for this?” Robbie asked, the lights dimming as the next band arrived on the stage. The crowd was sparse, but respectful. Couples stalled their conversations and raised their glasses as the lead trumpet player beamed and took a small bow. Everyone knew that it was time to focus their attention on the stage.
Everyone, except Lissie Hope.
“The fuck kinda question is that?” she replied, louder than she intended or even realized. Robbie eyed her with derision, the embarrassment causing his cheeks to flush with red. But her eyes reddened for a different reason. “I’ve been working for this for a fucking year, Robbie,” she continued, and he desperately tried to hush her with his hands, motioning towards his neck.
“Chill out, sis,” he said, calmly. He eyed the stage and the smile on the trumpet player had already subsided. He tried to mouth ‘sorry’ but the damage had already been done. “C’mon, let’s go outside,” he said, grabbing his cocktail. She begrudgingly followed him out the door.
“What the hell’s the matter with you?” he said, fighting the cars whistling by mixed with the hiss of unseasonal powerful winds circling around them. “I just want to be sure that you know what you’re doing. I care about you and I’m just looking out for you”
“All due respect, brother, but what I do, and when I decide to do it…” she began, completely irate at this point. “...is none of your fucking concern. I’ve always made my own decisions, whether I have your blessing or not.”
“Got it, sis. Message received, loud and clear.”
She turned sideways and peered out onto the street, beautiful men and women laughing and smiling in small groups, having the time of their lives. She wondered if she could ever be as joyous and fulfilled as them. She didn’t know any of their stories. She didn’t know if they were truly satisfied, or if they were escaping from their own dull realities. But she didn’t care. She wanted to be them. She wanted to be happy, but she just didn’t know if that was ever in the cards for her. She knew how to throw on a beautiful dress and pick out a new shade of lipstick and talk to cute boys and sultry girls. She knew how to flutter her eyelashes and put on a smile. But none of those conquests ever meant anything in the long run.
She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone, pawing at the keys. One of her reliables had already started blowing her up and she knew it was a certainty that at some point she would be ditching this clown and would end up rolling around in his sheets at the end of the night. It caught her by surprise, though, when Robbie’s finger poked her in the eye. She nearly lost her grip of the phone.
“What the fuck, dude?”
He gripped her face to hold it still, pointing it upwards so he could get a better look. But when he plucked at her cheek, she started to visualize back when they were kids. This was a constant, a routine, that she hoped would never cease. It was childlike and pure; a tender act of love and affection that she decided she would never take for granted.
“You lost an eyelash,” he finally said, showing it to her. “You know you gotta make a wish now.”
She closed her eyes and smiled, digging her fingers into his wrist. She loved him; her brother, her blood, her protector. “Just turned 11:11, too,” she remembered.
“Double or nothing.”
For the first time in a long time, she let herself exist.
Have you ever dared to dream?
You find yourself rotting in your own prison, and you desperately seek the way out.
And you think you’ve found the resolution.
You promise yourself it’s the best path laid forth before you.
But once you make that decision to pave your own way…
...you realize that you can’t do it alone.
You remember all those who helped mold you.
And who helped shape you.
The keepers of your mind. Of your heart. Of your soul.
And you decide… above all else…
You can’t let them go.
Summer 2009
Conroe, Texas
11:05 AM
“Sunny side up okay, hon?”
With a set of earbuds plugging her ears and the volume turned all the way up, Elisabeth Hope didn’t hear the question. She didn’t want to hear it.
“Ya’ hear ‘ya mother talkin’, dont’cha?”
She nibbled on her toast and looked down at the reflection on the glass table, her jet black bangs covering her eyes. Her mother Dottie sighed, dejected, and rubbed her head. Her father, George, slammed the cupboard door closed, causing Elisabeth to wince. He walked over to his defiant daughter and pulled the cord out of her ear.
“Ya’ answer ‘ya mother when she speaks to ‘ya!”
Robbie, her brother two years her senior, was just rounding the corner when he saw her stand to face her father, looking up at him without a hint of fear and a stunning lack of obedience. All that shot from her eyes was malice and hatred, as he had robbed her of that sense of love and respect far too many times, far too many moons before.
Robbie had a keen sense of awareness and quickened his pace, grabbing his baby sister by the elbow and leading her out the patio door. He had seen this kind of standoff before, and how it could easily get violent. And it pained him to see his sister having to resort to wearing long-sleeve hoodies in the warm Texas summers to hide the marks and the bruises.
“C’mon sis, why do you have to do that? Why do you have to piss him off everyday?”
“I didn’t say a fucking word to him, Robbie!” she replied, determined to come out looking better. But he wasn’t blinded by her insolence. He loved her more than anything, but he knew she didn’t have to take it that far. Not every time.
“That’s the point! You think I like having to referee you two?”
“Fuck you, man,” she hit back. “I never asked you to do shit. Why don’t you just take your little golden-boy ass back in there and leave me the hell alone!” She tried to connect with a reactionary back-handed slap, but he caught her wrist in motion. This angered her further and she reared back, wanting to send a fist to his temple but he side-stepped her easily, her momentum taking her to the ground.
“What the hell ‘ya doin’ out there?” their father called from the door. He adjusted his belt, his round stomach peaking out from underneath his wifebeater. Robbie hid his disappointment and his anger when he looked down at his sister and saw the single tear forming underneath her eye.
“Just goofin’ around, pa,” he replied, further deescalating the situation before it went any further. Their father was apprehensive but slithered back into the house; Robbie reached down to grab her hand, to pull her to her feet, but she slapped it away.
“This isn’t over, asshole,” she bit. Her phone had fallen out of her jacket pocket and quickly pat away the grass and dirt from the screen. The time read 11:11.
You are the creator of your reality.
Your thoughts are the manifestation of your true self.
I was always curious why I would see 11:11 at the most random moments;
And I found that it was a supernatural energy, giving me the motivation to take a chance.
The biggest gamble.
A leap of faith.
It was a profound energy; a direct channel to the unknown.
And headfirst, I dove.
26 March 2019
“You remember the day you finally took me up on that offer,” Robbie began. “And then we hit the gym hard, and you never looked back?”
This broke Lissie from her introspection.
“I asked you over and over,” he continued. “And you were so resistant. You were letting everyone get the best of you. And you let yourself get the best of you,” he added, and she nodded her head in affirmation. He gave her a playful punch on the arm which drew a wide grin.
“None of those bitches stood a chance,” she said, taking a drink from her glass. The vodka burned as it careened down her throat. A short cough and a giggle followed. “When I started getting bigger than them, and stronger than them…” She was referencing her bullies.
“It seemed like it happened overnight, sis,” he said, the joy and pride emanating from his smile. “No one could hurt you anymore.” He paused, his grin reversing. “But you realize this is a whole different ball game, right? This isn’t bitches shoving you into lockers, or slapping you at the lunch table. This is gonna be girls… and guys… who have been doing this shit all their lives that are gonna be facing you in that ring. Some of them are going to be a hell of a lot bigger and faster and stronger than you, and I need to know that you’re up for it. I won’t be able to sleep at night if you’re not.”
She understood his concern, but at the same time… “The bigger they are, the harder they fall, Robbie,” she said, a little impatience in her voice. “I’m up for it. I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”
A little silence was broken when the patio door opened and the jazz music began spilling into the streets. Robbie took the pause to reach into his coat and pull out his cigarettes, lighting one and offering one up to his baby sister. She declined, but looked up at her brother with a long gaze.
“I need to know that you believe in me,” she finally asked.
“More than you think," he replied. "Go kick some ass."
I haven’t had a dream in a long time
The life I’ve had can make a good man bad;
Please, please, please: let me get what I want;
Lord knows it would be the first time.
-The Smiths