Sara Pettis | "Duality" |

The scene opens in the new CWF Arena, in Paradise, California. In the main lobby there is a stage set up in front of large RWA/CWF backdrop. On the stage is a table set up with a stack of 8x10 photos, and sharpies, a long with CWF World Title. Outside is a large line of RWA fans, waiting for 12-noon to arrive so the doors will open, and they can go inside.

During the week leading up the opening of the CWF arena, several CWF, and RWA superstars and Hall of Famers are scheduled to appear, and participate in Q and A sessions with the fans, and sign autographs. It's Sunday, and already in California is Sara Pettis.

She's standing on the other side of the backdrop, slightly nervous. Despite having performed in front of large audiences for as long as she has, and even taking part in Main Events week in, and week out as of late, public speaking has always been one of her phobias. So much so, she has tried to avoid speaking on shows as much as possible, choosing to just wrestle, and let that be that.

But as the sound technicians test the numerous microphones set up through out the lobby, and the one being handed her at that moment, she realizes that theres no backing out of it.

Johnny Beckham walks up and puts his arm around Sara. The two have a quick discussion about her introduction, before he takes his place on the stage. The clock on Sara's phone reads 12:01, and she can hear the doors being opened by the event security. She peeks around again, and sees the fans filing into the room, taking position at the microphones, and sitting down in the chairs behind a crowd barrier just in front of the elevated stage. Sara takes a deep breath as she hears Johnny begin to start the introduction.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and children. Welcome to the all new CWF Arena, here in Paradise, California. I see a lot of people are here today, as we begin our week of festivities leading up to the opening of this grand facility. This venue is definitely not the largest in the world, but it's not a bingo hall in Philadelphia either. CWF's return has been huge for so many reasons, one of which of course being you, the fans. That is why we're having this week to celebrate what will be the dawning of a new age for CWF, and RWA. Now, I'm sure some of you in the back can't see this, but up here on this table behind me is the actual, factual, 100% authentic CWF World Heavyweight Title Belt. Why is it here? Well because, I just happened to have won it in a impromptu match in Canada from Sara Pettis. Thats right this belt belongs to me now."

Johnny walks over to the table and picks up the title belt, to which Sara, still on the other side of the backdrop responds into her microphone. "Yea right, put it down Johnny."

"What a Wonderful World" by Joey Ramone begins to play in the lobby, and Sara's entrance video begins to play on the closed circuit tv's. Sara steps around the corner of the backdrop to a huge pop from the crowd, and a blinding amount of flashes. She's wearing a 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers jersey, and blue jeans. Johnny continues the intro as Sara waves, and shakes hands with the fans in the first row of seats beyond the divider, "CWF fans, let me please introduce to you, the current CWF Champion, she is also one half of the RWA United Champions, is undefeated in CWF, and probably is one of the reasons CWF Xplosion has become the #1 rated show in RWA over Reloaded, along with being the premier sports-entertainment show in the country. Less then 24 hours removed from a brutal NYC Bench match in Quebec, and by the way, this has all been with a broken neck mind you. Ladies and gentlemen, the Second Generation Show Stealer, Sara Pettis!"

The crowd cheers as Sara finally gets done shaking hands, and hugging people for picture in the front row, and walks up the steps to the stage carrying her microphone in her hand. She's wearing a throwback Sandy Koufax, Brooklyn Dodgers jersey with the 1955 World Series Champions patch on the sleeve. She gets to the center of the stage, where Johnny hands her, her CWF Title belt, and Sara raises over her head, and again another round of flashes goes off. Puts the World Title over her shoulder and turns towards Johnny, "Boost my ego some more why don'tcha Johnny?" she says speaking into her mic.

The crowd is still buzzing a bit as Johnny begins the Q and A, "Alright Sara, we're going to begin the twenty minute question and answer portion of this event, and I'll start it off because I know what the first question is probably going to be. Hows the neck doing?"

"Well it's a little stiff. A little sore, which is normal I've been told. But I'm sure your neck would also be stiff after having a match, and then flying here to California from Quebec." Crowd chuckles, "But all in all, my neck is feeling pretty good. I had some surgery done last week....I think about a week ago today, or tomorrow, where some plates were bolted into my neck to set the broken bones. Its experimental, and has never been done in the United States, but as I think is evident by the fact I had no real problems with it last night in my match, it seems to be doing the trick."

"So, like...is there a scar on your neck or anything like that from the surgery?" Johnny asks.

"Umm, there will be, right now its still stitched up, and theres four bumps from where the bolts are, like, right under the skin, but no one but maybe the first row would see it if I showed you guys..." crowd "awwws", "I mean, if you guys really want to see the back of my neck, I'll show you when you come up during the autograph session."

"Ok, well, I guess I'm going to open the floor up for questions from the audience. Please keep in mind that we only have twenty minutes for questions, so to give everyone who wants to ask a question time, we ask that you ask only one question, and please no follow-ups." Johnny tells the audience, "Now when you ask, just state you name, and if you want to, where you're from, and Sara I'm sure will do her best to answer the question. I think we'll start with the microphone on my left side of the room, and then the one in the middle, and then move to the one on my right, and then back to the left. Alright, you're the first person to ask the CWF Champion a question, go ahead."

A man, about early to late twenties wearing a RWA t-shirt, is standing at the microphone, "Yea, uh, my name is Mike, and um, I'm from Sacramento, I just want to know, with CWF moving permanently to California, where does this leave your status with SFT?"

"Well Mike, Johnny AM and I actually have just stepped away from SFT, vacating all of our titles and such. So now, I am truly exclusively on Xplosion," Sara says getting a pop from the crowd, "How long it will last like that? I can't answer, because I really do love SFT. And I do want to, at least, end my career there. But thats a long way off. Right now, I'm putting all of my efforts into CWF, defending my title, and continuing to make CWF the best, and highest rated show in RWA."

"Nice question Mike, you can go ahead in the middle." Johnny says.

A younger girl is seen at the microphone in the middle, "Yea, my name is Dakota, and I just want to know, why did you decide to become a wrestler Sara?"

"Well Dakota, I just grew up surrounded by wrestling. I've been blessed with great genetics, as far as having an athletic body, and ability. And when you spend as much time watching, and living it as I have in my life, its almost a for gone conclusion."

"Now, you had other opinions then wrestling, right Sara?" Johnny asks the Eighteen year old champion.

"Yea, bunches. I was given a ton of offers for, full ride athletic scholarships with a lot of great schools. For various sports, mostly Softball though. I did get a couple for collegiate wrestling. Because I was a wrestler in high school, actually ranked #2 in the state of New York. But I wanted to start my career now without any other obligations, like class or anything like that."

"Alright, how about you over here ma'am?" Johnny says pointing towards the microphone on the right.

"Hi, my name is Janet, I'm from Berkley, and I'm actually going to change my question after hearing what you just said Sara. Do you ever plan on going to school? Because there are a bunch of young people who make be taking what you said as meaning an education isn't that important." The older woman says with almost an attitude.

"Well, first of all, I want to go on the record. I am not saying that school is not important. Or education. I do plan to one day go to school. But right now, I am doing what I've always wanted to do. Once I am done, I do plan to begin a new career, first by going to school. But to be 100%, completely honest, I'm doing pretty good for myself right now."

Johnny points back over to the microphone on the left, and another man in his mid-twenties is at the microphone. "Yea, uh, my name is Bryan, from Paradise...uh...I'm just curious, is it true that you're going to be appearing in Playboy or Hustler?"

Sara laughs, "No, that is not true. I don't plan on it either."

"My name is Jon, and I'm from San Francisco, um, I just want to know why you and Johnny decided to step away from SFT despite being multiple champions?"

"Well, I didn't expect so many questions about SFT. But I guess if you want to know...I have decided not to re-up my development contract with Strike Fantasy Towers. I want to let it be known though that it is not because of any ill-will towards SFT. More because, I just feel like I want to put all of my attention into making CWF great, and putting on the best show possible, here in Paradise."

"Uh, hey Sara, my name is Tim, and I live in Fresno now, but I'm actually from Queens. I just want to know, with CWF permanently moving out here to California, do you plan on leaving Ozone Park, and moving out here to the West Coast?"

Sara stops to think about this. As far as she can remember, New York has been her home. But the logistics of living in New York, and working in California really don't make any sense. She clears her throat and starts to answer, "I don't know, Tim. My heart is in New York. Always has been, always will be. I love that city. Things are so different between the two places, New York and California. But in reality, I've spent my whole life skipping around, from city to city. I was born on the West Coast...if you can count Alaska as part of the West Coast....I just, don't know what to say in response to that question. It would make sense for me to move out here, and not have to worry about travel aside from the bi-monthly pay-per-views. So, to answer the question, theres a good chance I will find a way to take permanent residence here in California."

The crowd gives a good pop at this, and Johnny Beckham brings the microphone to his mouth, "Alright ladies and gentlemen, we have time for one more question, we'll go with the young lady in the middle there."

"My name is Jessica, and I'm from San Jose...I was just wondering, who did you like to watch wrestle growing up?"

"Well, theres been so many people I grew up just knowing in this business, having been raised by wrestlers. My mother of course, is one of the key people I looked up too. Along with the current GM of Xplosion, Megan "The Monster" Helms-King. Pandoura was also one of my all time favorites, if you're just asking about women wrestlers. Wrestlers in general, my all time favorite was Damien Sparks. I don't know why, I just liked to watch him perform. And most entertaining had to be Schizophrenia. I mean, she had me completely convinced she was crazy. And thats what this business is about, suspending disbelief."

"Alright folks, before we start letting you all come up here for autographs, I have just one more question for Sara, what about this weekend's match, your first defense of the CWF World Championship?" Johnny asks Sara...

Technically, this will be my second defense of the CWF Title. But I understand why some people don't count the defense against Brett Walsh. It was nothing more then an obvious set up by the Walsh family, and Lucia King.

What can I say, after flying below so many people's radar for so long, here I am. At the forefront of the company. With the largest target in the business placed squarely on my chest. But thats what I've been wanting for so long. To finally be the one that everyone else has to look to, to prove that they're the best.

Lucia is probably flipping over the fact that she has to share this opportunity with Rayn. Personally, I would much rather have just fought Lucia and gotten it over with. It's nothing disrespectful towards Rayn, but the fact is statistically speaking, the champion's chances of defending are greater in a one-on-one match. But I can not deny the fact that, since the finals of the CWF Championship Tournament, Rayn seemingly has been on a mission to meet me again for the CWF Title. As I said in our last match Rayn, I wanted to defend against you at some point. And you wanted to get your chance at the title against again. Well it seems we've both gotten our wish.

I wonder. I wonder how far this ride will take us. This ride we're all three on, the CWF Title ride. Every week, the ride builds up more speed, and travels a greater distance. So far the ride for me has been nothing but smooth sailing. Since the inception of CWF, I haven't lost a match. CWF has become a part of me, a part of who I am. As much as XCW, or SFT. THose places are where I was conceived, born, and raised, but it is here in CWF, that I have begun to live. Begun to live my own life. The very thing I've been waiting for, working for, building towards my entire life.

I wonder when it's going to end. I wonder when will all of this thats going so great around me will crumble and fall. Not this weekend Rayn, not this weekend Lucia. This title has seen itself rise up, like a phoenix from the ashes, and ascended once again to glory, on my shoulder. Not my mother's, not my father's. Mine. No longer am I living in their shadows.

These past few weeks, I've been putting effort into SFT, and it has distracted me from CWF. But now, I have no distractions. No hectic flight plans, no more living out of a suitcase. Ever since last week, after my surgery, I haven't had to worry about my neck. And now that CWF has a permanent home in California, the time might just be right for settling down, on my own, and starting a life beyond the confines of Ozone Park.

Anyway, back to the match. Lucia I'm sure can't be too happy. I know she thought she had last week's match won. Fortunately enough for me, my lack of any size finally worked in my favor. I will admit, I'm not happy about putting myself in that situation though. She should have never had an edge in the first place, as far as I'm concerned. For some reason I keep letting my guard down during the match, and I don't know why. My mind was telling me to do something, but my body didn't agree. It was a weird feeling, and it almost cost Rayn and me the match.

I will admit, I've started to question my out look on things as of late. Almost like, I'm looking at the world through two sets of eyes. And it got really bad in the ring last Saturday. Parts of me wanted to do things my normal style, other parts of me wanted to do things different. I don't know why though. I've never felt that way in the ring before, and I think that was apparent. Lucia had me on the ropes often, because I was constantly feeling distracted. Distracted by myself. I can't explain it, but I need to stop allowing whatever it is thats going on in my head to distract me. If I don't, well, who knows. Rayn isn't there this week to bail me out.

Sara has been signing autographs now for about two hours, and so far it has only been an enjoyable experience. Talking with her fans and meeting them up close has been a great experience. And despite what RWA officials have been trying to tell her, she hasn't minded the occasional second, third, forth, or fifth autograph for the really hardcore devoted CWF fan. She has taken pictures with men, women, and children of all ages, sizes, colors, and creeds. A middle aged man walks up to the table. He's out of shape, and wearing a RWA t-shirt. Sara smiles, and puts her autograph on the 8x10 black and white photo and slides it towards him.

"Thanks for coming out here today." Sara says to him.

He picks up the photo, and looks at it, before reaching into his pocket. He pulls out a folded up piece of paper, and slides it in front of Sara.

"I was wondering, if you could sign this picture of you I found on the internet?" he says, with a odd voice.

Sara takes the paper, and begins to unfold it. She notices that the man begins to breath heavier, and heavier as she does so, making her feel uneasy. She opens it up, and her jaw drops in horror and disgust. Staring straight back at her, is the picture that Shawn Walsh has come into possession of. She looks up at the guy, who is all but masturbating in the middle of the arena's lobby. Sara balls the picture up, and stands up from her chair. With the picture still in her hand, she balls it up into a fist, and without even thinking, swings it at the man, landing it squarely on his jaw. The guys stumbles back and falls off the edge of the stage onto the lobby floor. Event security starts to buzz, moving in around the guy, and Sara. They immediately pull Sara back around behind the backdrop, and see to the man laid out on the ground. The remaining fans waiting in line begin to grumble about the fact that security has cut the autograph session short. Meanwhile Sara is surrounded by security, and Johnny Beckham.

"Ms. Pettis, are you alright? What happened?" a security guard asks Sara trying to get her to calm down.

"Jesus christ Sara! What the hell was that? You floored that guy! What the hell were you thinking?" Johnny yells at her, as the fans still in line begin to chant "bullshit!" from the other side of the backdrop.

"He...he...got the picture...The picture that Shawn Walsh has....he got it off the internet!" Sara screams at Johnny, trying to justify herself.

"Jesus christ Sara! Theres all kinds of pictures of you on the internet! What the hell? I mean seriously? You can't just sucker punch a fan like that! Someone call Sophia...we're going to have a lawsuit, and a riot on our hands soon, I can just tell. Way to open the arena Sara....really...great job." Johnny tells her.

"First of all, fuck you Johnny. Who the fuck do you think you are talking to me like that? I'm the fucking CWF Champion, and you're just a ring announcer, so I suggest checking your tone! And it wasn't just a picture! It was a picture that no one but me, and one other person were ever supposed to see! Fucking Shawn Walsh must've sold it to some website or something!" Sara yells, using a attitude we've never heard from her before.

"Picture? What the fuck Sara? Are you naked in it or something?" Johnny asks.

"Fuck you Johnny. I'm done. No more autographs. No more pictures. I'm done." Sara says turning away, and she begins to walk down the corridor towards where the superstar locker rooms are.

"Wait, Sara! You can't do that. Theres still about a hundred people in line! They've been waiting just to get a chance to see you." Johnny calls out to her. Sara doesn't respond though, she just continues to walk away from the mess brewing behind her.

She finally gets to the women's locker room, and kicks the door open. She walks in, pissed off, and begins to pace in the center of the room. She walks over to a make-up area, with a large mirror for the women to use. Sara looks at herself, and sighs. She realizes she still has the picture balled up in her hand. She unrolls it, and looks at the image of her petite, naked, 16 year old body. At first she starts to cry, but she grits her teeth, and stops herself. Her lips begin to quiver, but not because they're holding back sobs, instead, building up from deep within her chest...

"GOD DAMN IT!!!" Sara screams at the top of her lungs, before tearing up the picture into pieces. She turns back to the mirror, and in a fit of rage, punches her own reflection, shattering the brand new, almost unused mirror. "Son of a bitch!" Sara screams turning away from the shattered glass.

"Jesus Christ kid. Calm down, don't hurt yourself." says a voice in the room. Sara spins around quick, thinking she isn't alone, but can't see anyone. "Hey, kid. Here in the mirror." the voice says again. Sara turns towards the broken mirror, and sees her numerous reflections in the broken glass. She walks towards the mirror, and leans in closer to get a good look at them, none of them are wearing the Brooklyn Dodgers jersey she is, instead they're wearing one of her mother's old Ice T-shirts from XCW, only with Sara's image opposed to her mother's, "Yea, kid, it's me. Don't tell me you've forgotten about our little encounter last week while you were under the knife, have ya?"

Sara turns away from the mirror, "Holy shit, I'm losing it. I'm completely losing it now." Sara says freaking out, "I'm turning into freakin' Schizo!"

"Kid, you are not becoming Schizophrenia. You're just confused. You're being torn apart inside aren't you? I mean, thats ok, people go through patches like this." her reflection tells her.

Sara laughs, "Confused doesn't even begin to explain what I'm feeling." Sara responds, "What the hell is wrong with me?"

"What? Don't tell me you feel bad for hitting that guy. Kid, that guy is a fucking pervert. He had it coming. He probably is one of those 'Online Predators' from Dateline. Fuck him. RWA has deep pockets, they'll keep it quiet" her reflection tells her.

Sara turns back towards her reflection, "Right, RWA is just going to pay him off, and nothing is going to happen to me." Sara says looking right at the reflection, "Now who's being naive?"

"Who are you talking too?" Comes another voice. Without Sara even noticing, Xplosion GM Megan Helms-King has stepped into the locker room. Sara turns towards Megan, and back towards the mirror, seeing that the reflection she was talking to is gone. "Jesus Christ Sara, you broke the mirror two? What the hell is going on? You've never acted like this before. First you punch a fan, and now you've destroyed RWA property....and look at your hand." Megan says with a sigh.

Sara looks down at her hand, her knuckles are bleeding with shards of the mirror embedded in them. "Damn, I didn't even notice that."

"Here, I'll help you," Megan says, taking Sara's hand. She begins to pull out the pieces of glass, and continues to talk to her, "Sara, if you don't calm down, I won't be able to let you be part of our Women's Cancer Research benifit show...which is a shame, because I think you really want to be there for your mother. But I can't risk anything happening like what has happened today. And you're talking to yourself like you're Schizophrenia when I walk in. Sara I'm worried about you" Megan says, removing the last shard of glass.

"You're not the only one Megs." Sara admits to her.

"You know I've got a huge mess to go clean up now. Because of your temper. I suppose you wouldn't be willing to go back out there and sign for the remaining fans would you?" Megan asks.

"That depends. Are you asking me, or are you telling me to sign autographs?" Sara says, looking at Megan.

"Well...I'd like you too...but I'm not going to force you too." Megan admits.

Sara looks back at the mirror, and shakes her head no. "I'm sorry Megs, I don't think I want to go back out there...not right now."

"Alright, I'll break the news. You're really not making this easy for me Sara. we'll have to figure out a way to make it up to some of them." Megan tells her.

"Well, I guess thats why they pay you the big bucks to be GM, Megs." Sara says to her as she reaches into her bags, pulling out a roll of bandages, and begins to bandage up her hand.

"I don't know whats gotten into you Sara But I can't help but feel like I'm talking to your mother right now." Megan tells her.

"Well, what can I say? I'm her daughter." Sara says as she walks passed Megan, and out of the room.

Megan stands alone in the room. Looks at the broken mirror, and sighs.

End...