The Julia Foundation: 5

[admin]

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July 26th, 2021
Roslin, Scotland
Off Camera
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The skies of Roslin, Scotland are darkened and gloomy. It is dusk, just before nighttime but right after sunset. The roads are practically empty with just a few individuals daring to brave the dark evening hours of Monday night. Most are preparing to turn in for the night, most want to get to sleep. But for one Chastity Noel, she isn’t afforded that same luxury. The beautiful blonde would much rather be in bed right now, especially after hearing of the events that happened the past few days regarding her sister and niece. Melinda Braddock, Chastity’s niece, and Melinda’s fiancee Archie Van Stanton, the son of Chastity’s business partner Henry Van Stanton, were both gunned down during a home invasion. Doctors were able to save Melinda’s life but Archie was not as lucky.

It is a terrible, horrific crime and it hits Chastity especially hard, because Melinda and Archie’s relationship was supposed to be the symbolic end to a bitter generational rivalry between the Braddock family and the Van Stanton family. It was supposed to end in peace with Melinda and Archie getting married. Instead it ended in a bloodbath and Archie’s demise. And now this horrific incident has forced Henry Van Stanton to remain in the United States for the duration of the investigation into his son’s death and Chastity is left to oversee their project all by herself. And to be perfectly honest, after this incident, Chastity isn’t sure that Henry Van Stanton will be able to return to the project.

The project in question is The Julia Foundation; short for The Julia Braddock Foundation, named after her in-ring wrestling name. It was as Julia Braddock that she got addicted to drugs as a means to help her handle the pressures of living up to her famous Braddock family heritage. One woman, Aphrodite Noel, helped her to overcome her addictions, get clean, and to better handle the pressure without turning to drugs. To acknowledge and thank Aphrodite for helping her, she changed her name to Chastity Noel. Now Chastity looks to help others with similar problems. That is the purpose of The Julia Foundation. She got Henry Van Stanton to help her out with the legal and corporate issues that Chastity is not as familiar with. Henry even set her up with this home base for The Julia Foundation in Roslin, Scotland.

So why is Chastity out and about tonight? She was notified by alarms that someone had broken into the headquarters of The Julia Foundation. She knows she should probably call police, and indeed she probably will once she gets there, but even though she legally is Chastity Noel, she was born and still is Julia Braddock and as a Braddock she wants to face these things head on. Ordinarily she would have back-up, specifically Henry Van Stanton, but in this case he is not here, so Chastity is having to face this one alone.

Her car pulls up into what will soon to be a parking lot but is currently just a dusty old field outside of an abandoned building that is in the process of being remodeled and made to look brand new. She turns her car off and then exits. Chastity is wearing denim jeans, white tennis shoes, and a plain white t-shirt. Her long blonde hair is pulled into a ponytail in the back. She is carrying a baseball bat with her, just in case there is trouble. However, it has been long since those alarms went off and she expects that if there were any intruders that they are probably gone by now. She doubts that she will need this baseball bat. She fully expects to walk in and find her new building torn apart. Chastity walks with purpose towards the front door and she finds it already open. This was expected; she pushes it the rest of the way open and steps inside.

Chastity immediately turns and begins to walk down a long, winding hallway that leads to an already open door. Chastity eventually reaches a large room with a window overlooking the scenery outside. She sees nothing, just as she expected. She turns to exit the room but that’s when she hears a noise, almost like scuttling. Maybe she isn’t as alone a she thought? She spins around with the baseball bat in hand starts scanning the room again. She spots some movement in the shadows.

“Alright! Come on out!” Chastity snaps loudly, brandishing the baseball bat menacingly. “You are going to be in a lot of trouble already when I call the police, so don’t make it any more trouble than it needs to be!”

The shadow darts towards the door but Chastity, thinking fast, quickly slams the door shut. Chastity then reaches towards the light switch and turns on the lights so she can see the intruder. Much to her surprise she finds what appears to be a teenager...eighteen or nineteen years old, maybe...a brunette female, standing there, cowering and shivering. But this isn’t entirely out of fear of a menacing Chastity Noel with a baseball bat. Chastity recognizes some of these reactions all too well.

“Who are you and what are you doing on my property?”

“I’m sorry Ms. Braddock, I just needed somewhere to stay for the night!”

Chastity backs her towards a wall. She stares her down. Then something else catches her eye, something that confirms her suspicions about this teenager. “I should call the police.” She uses her bat to point to a bag of what appears to be cocaine at the teenager’s feet. “For more reason than one.”

“Uh…”

“I know that’s not mine. It must be yours.”

“Look, Ms. Braddock, I’m sorry, I just needed somewhere to say for the night. Can I just please go and forget this all happened?”

Chastity glares into the teen’s eyes. She can sense a genuine look of fear upon her face. These shivers, the fear, the shaking, all of it is reminiscent of Chastity herself. When she was younger and she was fighting drug addiction; she recalls times like this when she would be hiding from her family, hiding her symptoms so that no one close to her would find out, and most importantly hiding the drugs themselves from her loved ones. This teenager reminds Chastity of herself in so many ways that it immediately causes her to soften and relax a little bit.

“What is your name?”

“Grace.”

“Is that all?”

“That’s all I know.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Don’t you have parents?”

“Yeah, everyone does, I just don’t know who mine are. I was dropped off at an orphanage when I was a baby. I was never claimed. I don’t know who I belong to. The workers at the orphanage called my Grace so...yeah…”

“And now you’re on your own?”

“Pretty much.”

“And you think drugs will make it all better?”

“I don’t want to be judged! I just wanted a place to stay for the night! Please do not call the police! I did not take anything! Just let me go and I won’t bother you again!”

Chastity shakes her head, refusing Grace’s request. “No, I don’t think so. You and I should have a chat. Like for starters, how did you even know my name? I never met you before in my life.”

“Are you kidding me?” Grace says with a light chuckle, despite the situation. “You are Julia Braddock. THE Julia Braddock! Glenn Braddock’s daughter, former world champion, and the next GCW Global Champion! You are a legend!”

Chastity arches her brows in shock. “I wouldn’t quite call myself a legend.”

“But you are! You are a legend! I have followed your career for as long as I can remember!”

This is a reaction that Chastity did not expect. She hasn’t had this kind of reaction from anyone, to be perfectly honest. Everyone she has ever known has always been enamored with her sister, more successful Glory Braddock. This young girl seems enamored with her. It is quite a feeling and does tend to stroke the ego a bit. But as Chastity once again spots the bag of cocaine on the floor she refocuses back on the situation.

“You may think I am a legend and maybe I am a legend in the eyes of people like you but I haven’t always been that person.” She uses the bat to point to the bag of drugs on the floor. “And you are not the only one to have these kind of problems…”

“What do you mean? You are Julia Braddock. You had it so easy, with a legendary dad who was made England famous as a wrestler, you went on to make England proud as a wrestler yourself, you are amazing.”

Chastity shakes her head. “I wasn’t always great. And yes, I am Julia Braddock. My dad was a legend in European wrestling, my sister was even better than him, winning fifteen world championships to date…”

“You are better than your sister.” Grace says confidently.

“...you say that, but I still debuted after my sister. And so I had my father’s legacy and my sister’s legacy to live up to; so many people expected me to do such great things, including my father and my sister. That was a lot of pressure, it was too much pressure for me. So I turned to that right there...cocaine, the drugs, whatever that is you’re using...I turned to stuff like that to help me deal with the pressure. It helped me deal with the short term problem but it only created new long term problems. I became a total wreck. The addiction nearly destroyed me. Had it not been for a very special person in my life, I would have died and the person you idolize today wouldn’t even be standing here talking to you right now, let alone have be a former GCW World Champion and potentially a future GCW Global Champion.”

Chastity takes Grace by her hand. “I am going to challenge Lenore Price-Mason for the GCW Global Championship and that will be one of the toughest matches of my career. But that fight will be nothing compared to the fight I endured to overcome the addiction to drugs. I nearly lost myself, my freedom, and my life because of it. I look at you and I see so much of myself in you, Grace, and I would hate to see that happen to you.”

“I...had no idea…” Grace says, shaking her head.

“Well it is the truth. And I will tell you what, I could call the police; most law abiding people would, especially considering the fact that you broke in and have illegal drugs in your possession. But I won’t call the police. In fact, I will even give you a place to stay so you will never have to live on the streets again.”

“Seriously?”

“I am serious. But there is a catch...you must get clean. You must stop doing drugs. And I am deadly serious about it. I am taking a big risk by helping you out instead of calling the police. So if you take me up on my offer, if I give you housing, you must keep up your end of the bargain and let me get you clean and you keep off drugs. If you ever fall off the wagon and go back to the drugs, I will notify the police. Is that clear?”

“Yeah...I get you…” Grace nods her head “...but where will I be staying?”

“My place...at least for now. When this building is finished you will be staying here. This is The Julia Foundation, I am building it to help people just like you.”

“So is this just another orphanage?”

“No, this will be different from an orphanage, I can promise you that. I will get you and others like you real help, Grace.”

“Well…” she sighs “...I appreciate the offer but I’m not sure I want to be under someone else’s rule just like I was under the rule of the orphanage. Y’know?”

“I know how that feels. But to live and thrive in society there must be rules. Anarchy will only lead to destruction. And those drugs, that in and of itself is like living under someone else’s rules, you are just living under the rules of the drugs. I can help you, Grace. I want to help you. And what I offer you, my rules, it is much better than being ruled over by the police. I guarantee you that.”

Grace sighs and nods her head. “I suppose…”

Chastity embraces Grace with a tight hug. “Welcome to the family, Grace. Welcome to The Julia Foundation.”