Chapter Seventy-Four

Matt stood about 20 minutes till show time in the backstage area with Jay and Jeff talking about the show and who they were wrestling. Matt noticed Angela hadn’t come yet and usually she was one of the first one’s to meet in this spot where before every show everyone meets.

Matt had noticed her odd behaviors earlier today and remembered how concerned he was over her in the last several days and he was worried, it wasn’t like her to be late. She was always here... was something wrong?

Matt looked around suddenly for Lita.... something in his head and heart said that something wasn’t right, something was terribly wrong... and his stomach felt twisted, he thought he was gonna be sick. He looked around for Lita feeling his heart suddenly racing for some reason he didn’t understand... she was probably getting dressed or something.... everything was okay... wasn’t it? No it wasn’t......

Matt stood froze his whole body felt chilled, where was Angela? Matt grabbed Jeff’s arm startling him and Jeff and Jay stared at him, both confused and concerned, "Matt are you okay? What’s wrong?" Jeff asked grabbing Matt's arm to help steady him.

Lita who Matt saw out of the corner of his eye coming down the hallway towards them started running obviously noticing Matt acting funny.

Lita came over touching Matt’s other arm and Jay grabbed Matt a chair to sit in. Matt knew others were starting to notice, he didn’t care he knew something was wrong. Angela wasn’t there to see him like this... where was she? Was she okay?

"Matt ohh my God are you okay? What’s wrong?" Lita asked, her eye’s were wide and they looked scared.

Matt stared up at Jay and Jeff and then finally at Lita. "Angela.... Lita where’s Angela? Where is she? Go quick... go check on her.......hurry!" Matt said staring at her, his heart racing as Jay handed him a glass of water.

"Matt here, drink this!" Jay offered and Matt pushed it away staring at Lita who watched him scared.

"Lita something’s wrong.... I know it.... I feel it... go quick, please Lita, hurry go check on Angela!" Matt shouted as Jeff looked over his shoulder at Lita who looked at him as if asking what to do.

Jeff glanced back at Matt knowing something about the way he was acting wasn’t right... something had to be wrong... "Go quick, hurry listen to him!" Jeff said softly staring at her.

Matt watched Lita swallow and she took a deep breath turning and running down the hallway back toward the locker rooms.

Matt pushed Jeff’s arm from his shoulder trying to stand, "Jeff lemme go, I’m okay, I want to get up!" Matt insisted as Jeff tried to push him back into a sitting position on the chair.

Jeff glanced at Jay who was now kneeling on the floor next top Matt’s chair watching him. "Let him up." Jay said shrugging as he continued to stare at Matt, worried. Jeff released his hold and Matt slowly rose to his feet and moved over leaning back against the cold cement wall.

Shannon, Shane, Chris, Adam, Torrie, Molly, & Trish had gathered around the scene and were all talking softly, probably trying to figure out what in the world was going on. They all looked worried.

Matt felt his stomach turning... what was taking so long, where was Angela... was she okay... was everything okay? His head started throbbing, he sighed staring from friend to friend.... what was taking Lita so long...

***

Lita ran as fast as she could... she got to the corner leading to the hall where Angela’s locker room was... she stopped, her heart racing.... she had a bad feeling, and she took a deep breath passing slowly by the first few locker rooms, passing by her own, and continuing down and stopping in front of the locker room before Angela’s the last locker room of the hallway..... her heart stopped... she stared at the doorway and saw the door almost shut completely.... but what she noticed instantly was the red liquid lying on the floor, a trail of blood all over the floor... she looked down and saw that she was stepping in a small spot too. She stepped back and looked to the doorway, blood everywhere, all over. There looked like hand prints on the door frame and all over the outside of the door...... Who’s blood? Angela’s? Yes she knew it was... somewhere deep within her said she knew what happened.... two words came instantly to mind... Jack and Ray!

Lita felt weak, she thought she’d throw up... could she move? She didn’t know. She found herself moving before she was sure she wanted to. She walked dodging the blood on the floor, she got to the doorway and taking a deep breath, she pushed the doorway open slowly, there were no lights on and Lita closed her eye’s reaching over for the light switch... even with her eye’s closed she could tell the light had come on, she took another breath, and realized she was shaking.... she sighed, praying she was dreaming... she knew she wasn’t. She took another long breath and opened her eye’s.

What she saw she would never forget... not ever... not in a lifetime... it was the most horrifying, most vile, most awful, most disgusting thing she’d ever seen....

Angela lay in a pool of her own thick red blood, she wore nothing, Lita however could tell her cross and her necklace were still safely around her neck, and she wasn’t moving, it was hard to tell if she was even breathing, there was blood everywhere... so much blood.

"Dear God!" Lita heard herself whisper. She froze in the doorway..... was she.... alive? Please God she couldn’t be... dead........

Lita felt tears running from her cheeks and she found she was hugging herself, feeling cold & numb... she felt suddenly like she couldn’t breath.

Angela looked so tiny... so alone... she’d left her... she’d promised nothing would happen to her... that everything had been okay.... she promised now that she had Matt, nothing could hurt her, not the past.. not Jack and not Ray....she’d been wrong... she’d let Angela down when Angela needed her... how could she forgive herself.....?

Lita heard herself crying, sobbing really, as she stared at Angela she couldn’t think, she backed away and found she couldn’t go any further when she realized she backed across the hallway and was leaning against the wall, falling to her knees, hugging herself as she stared across the hall into the room at her friend, she hadn’t protected, had assured everything would okay... and she was wrong....

Feeling helpless, and feeling like everything was a blurry haze and she couldn’t think of anything to do but....... SCREAM........and then that’s all she could do.......

*

Matt felt his throat go dry, and his heart raced, his head pounding.... he stood, feeling the most odd most scared he’d ever felt.....then he heard the worst sound in the entire world. The loudest, most blood curdling scream he’d ever heard in his whole life... probably the loudest most horrible sound he’d ever hear again.... It was coming from the woman’s locker rooms around the corner... it was from Lita.....

Matt’s eye’s went wide as more screams and cries followed. Matt burst past Jeff and Jay before they could reach to pull him back. Matt was running so fast, everything seemed blurry... and unreal... was he dreaming this? Would he ever wake up? Wake up! Wake up!

But it wasn’t a dream, he knew as he stopped around the corner of the hallway he’d walked down dozens of times over the last 2 days to see Angela... he stopped, his heart stopped... Lita sat, blood everywhere.. she was crying and screaming and she just continued to stare... stare into Angela’s locker room.... so much blood........ there was so much blood, his whole blood felt cold... he was numb to the fact that he was crying and that Jeff was now running past him to Lita.

Matt stood frozen, his eye’s blurry as tears feel from his eye’s as he stared down the hall as he watched Jeff look into Angela’s locker room, sinking to the floor, not paying the blood any attention, not concerned with getting it on his own clothes.... pulling Lita into his arms as Lita continued to sob, Matt watched Jeff’s face... he looked sick... Matt watched him hug Lita, whispering to her that it was okay, Jeff glanced back after a moment and meet Matt’s eye’s briefly...

Matt would never forget the look in Jeff’s eye’s that moment... he couldn’t describe them... but he’d never forget them..... Matt stared at Jeff as he spoke.. it hadn’t occurred to Matt, and he’d been so numb and confused that he hadn’t even realized he wasn’t standing alone staring down the hallway any longer.... everyone was behind him, Matt knew not even bothering to look back behind him.

Matt watched as Jeff spoke, "Call an ambulance... now! Quick hurry!" Jeff screamed as Matt heard a loud commotion from behind him.

It was only after a moment that Matt took a breath and glanced back behind him, everyone was there, crying, and sobbing. Jay was hold Trish who was crying and it was Adam whose hand was on Matt’s shoulder.

Matt didn’t know what to do. What had happened? Matt took a breath turning to look back down towards Jeff again, he was holding Lita who was sobbing louder and more now.... Jeff was stroking Lita’s long red hair and Matt could see he was shaking.... but he still continued to stare into her locker room, Matt’s heart felt broken as he watched a tear roll from Jeff’s cheek. It wasn’t often that Jeff cried... almost never... or atleast not that matt had ever seen. Matt had only seen him cry twice... once when there mother died, and... now.

Matt saw the blood.... he knew deep from within his heart that it was Angela’s. What had happened to her.... would he ever see her again... would he ever get to speak to her... to tell her he loved her... to hug her, hold her, kiss her, touch her... to be with her... to marry her? Was she okay? He loved her so much... he couldn’t lose her... she had to be okay... couldn’t he just wake up already... he wasn’t dreaming though and he knew it... why couldn’t he move, or speak or do anything but stand frozen, cold & numb and cry?!. He was scared... scared he’d have to live without Angela... she had to be okay.... didn’t she?

Cinderella didn’t die.. in the end she’d lived happily ever after.... Angela couldn’t die, she couldn’t be.... dead....she had to be alive... to live to be with him... to live happily ever after..... the tears came and they didn’t stop... the next several minutes Matt would never remember... they passed by in a blur... nothing mattered but whether Angela was okay... what was inside of that room that made Jeff cry.. made him look the way he did.... Matt wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if something happened to her and he didn’t go look and see... he had to know... she couldn’t be gone.... she had to live!

It’s just not fair.......