Alicia's Pain

Continued from Saturday Night Fusion...

Destiny celebrates as Show Me The Money plays. Destiny walks backstage as Alicia gets up and follows shortly after.

Backstage, John and Shawn approach Alicia for a post-match interview, but she walks straight past them without acknowledging their existence. She goes out to the parking lot where her driver is waiting for her. Terri (the driver) opens the limousine door and lets Alicia in. She hands Terri an address and Terri closes the door for her. Terri gets in the driver's seat and speeds out of the lot. Alicia puts her head in her hands and begins to sob.

-----------------------------------------

An hour later, Terri arrives at the address and parks at the street. The driveway leading up to Alicia's stepfather's (Henry) mansion is filled with family members' and friends' cars. Alicia walks up to the open door, her tears long gone. A member of Henry's staff tries to greet her but she walks in past him without acknowledging his existence. She walks through the foyer to the living room on the left. Several people are clustered in different areas of the room, most of them holding wine glasses and all of them speaking in hushed tones. A picture of Diana surrounded by candles is on the piano positioned in the center of the back wall. Alicia storms up to her stepfather who is in the far back corner of the room. He sees her approaching and outstretches his arms to greet her with an open embrace. Alicia grabs a glass out of the hand of the woman he's talking to and throws the contents in his face.

Henry
I did everything I could.

Alicia slapped him across the face.

Alicia
You'll pay for this. I promise you that.

Alicia storms through the kitchen and out a side door. Several people approach Henry with napkins and offer to call the police but he politely declines. He excuses himself and goes upstairs to change his shirt and tie.

----------------------------------------

Terri drives Alicia home. When she opens the door, she finds Elle inside pacing. Alicia walks in and closes the door behind her. She breaks down into tears and slumps down to the floor. Elle rushes over to her and sits down next to her. She puts her arm around her and Alicia lays down in Elle's lap and cries. Elle strokes her hair and her back. After a while Alicia speaks.

Alicia
I know he killed her. He didn't put a gun to her head or a knife to her throat, but he killed her all the same. I don't know what I'm going to do...I'm falling apart. I hated her sometimes, but I loved her. She was my mother, Elle, and I loved her. I saw this coming and I knew that she couldn't be in that house, but I couldn't stop it. I should have stopped it. Why didn't I stop it?

Elle
Shhhh. It's going to be okay. Just let it out.

Alicia continues to cry for a while and then her tears run out again. Elle stays with her silently until dawn. Alicia finally passes out and Elle carries her up to bed and lays down beside her. The two sleep until late in the day.

----------------------------------------

Alicia's phone begins to ring at about 7 pm that evening. She wakes up from her sleep and picks up the phone to see who's calling. Elle is already up. She looks at the caller ID and puts her phone back down on the nightstand. Elle hears it after the second call and walks into the room to see what's going on. Alicia looks up at her and then turns over with her back to the phone as if to indicate her non-interest. Elle picks up the phone for her and answers the call. It's the producer and he's livid. Alicia was supposed to have met with him two hours ago at an uptown cafe. Elle apologizes profusely and explains that Alicia is having some family issues and will need to reschedule. The producer is not placated and declares that if Alicia misses one more appointment or cannot start filming next week that he'll be forced to find a replacement. He hangs up on Elle. Elle sits down on the edge of the bed and runs her hand through Alicia's hair. She asks Alicia softly if she thinks she'll be ready for next week. Alicia offers no response and simply lays there stoically. Elle leans down and kisses Alicia on the forehead, takes her cell from the room, and begins going through the emails and voice messages that Alicia is ignoring.

Voice message from the mental hospital. Diana's personal belongings are in a box ready to be picked up. If they do not hear from anyone within 48 hours the box will be disposed of. Message from the coroner's office restated the obvious. Her mother's cause of death was exsanguination from cutting. The body had been released to Henry and he would be taking care of the arrangements. Message from Marc Potts with lots of screaming about a wasted investment. No message from Henry, family, or friends. Elle feels sorry for Alicia and how alone she really is.

---------------------------------------

Friday night, almost a week later. Alicia is still in bed. Elle walks in to the room with some clothes in her hand at about 8 pm and looks at Alicia still laying there. She walks over to the far side of the bed, picks up the sheets, and dumps Alicia off the bed onto the floor. She gets up slowly, as if she's in a daze.

Alicia
What the hell was that for?

Elle tosses the clothes at Alicia and they hit her in the face. She grabs them and looks down at them. They're her workout clothes and ring attire.

Elle
Game face time.

Alicia looks back up at Elle and nods. She gets dressed and heads outside for a run. She had to get her head back in the game. It was time to channel that anger.