Emily Falls vs Araceli Martinez

Denver's rising sun is shining through the window of Araceli's bedroom, her alarm repeatedly buzzing as the time reads 6:58am. Araceli is lying face down on the bed. She is so still that one could walk into the room and wonder if she were dead. But she isn't. She is fighting with herself.
Four weeks and five days it had been since she lost her match with Azurine Vebbins. Every minute since then seemed to peel away with tediousness. After a moment the blankets begin to shift and a hand can be seen reaching out from beneath them. Araceli pulls back the covers and sits up, her legs hanging over the side of the bed. Dark circles frame her eyes and the hair that shined brown and blonde when she walked into the ring for her first match is now dark and dull and tangled. She sits silent for a moment, the alarm still buzzing beside her. Then the clock turns 7:00 and the buzzing stops. Araceli stares ahead and opens her mouth to speak..

"How? How did I lose to Azurine Vebbins? What did I do wrong? Where was my mistake? Where did I let her get one up on me? I've replayed that match countless times trying to spot where I went wrong. Where I slipped up. I can't figure it out.."

Araceli stands up, leaving a mountain of blankets on the bed behind her.

"My whole life was riding on that match with Azurine.. MY WHOLE LIFE!!! Do you people know how much I needed that win?! My family needed that win! They depend on me!! They look up to me!!! Now who am I in their eyes? A failure. Another person who has failed them..

Or maybe the one who has been failed is me.. All those years of exchanging my pain for an obsession with wrestling. Who was I kidding? The pain was always there. Wrestling was the veil that hid my pain.. made me look nice and put together on the outside. But my very first match that veil came crashing down. And oh did it come crashing hard.

I could have annihilated Anya that next week. I could have wiped that mat clean with her AND her bogus gods! But I barely even showed up... And why? Because I trusted that veil with everything inside of me! And it failed me."

Araceli walks to the mirror above her dresser and stares at her reflection. For a split seconds she is surprised at the appearance of the woman staring back at her.

"How easy is it to tell I've been lying in this bed for weeks? And now Robert Mack wants me to get up and put my boots back on. And who do I get to face this week? Emily Falls."

Araceli gives a chuckle.

"You know what, Emily.. you deserve props.. every time you lose, you get right back up and fight again the next week. How do you do it? How do you deal with loss after loss? Candi Bratton was right. These other wrestlers don't give you the respect you deserve. You may be the underdog, but you have a zeal for this business that isn't matched anywhere else in Mile High Wrestling. I guess you have the right to call me 'the lamest wrestler on the roster'. I don't have the zeal you have, Emily. Not anymore. But I'll promise you one thing.. I'm going to give you my all on Wednesday night. Because you've inspired me. You've inspired me to get out of bed and fight again. So come Wednesday it's you and me. You give me everything you've got, and I'll do the same. Good luck, Falls. You're gonna need it.