Retribution 2024
We open to a scene that was common once upon a time – Amy Chastaine sitting on a old but comfortable looking couch, located underneath a bay window. The desk visible next to the couch tells us this is her home office. Amy sits with her legs up and crossed in front of her, as one would normally sit on the floor. Hands folded in her lap, she smiles knowingly before speaking.
Hello, Dear Readers... or should I call you Viewers this time? I know, it's a rare thing for me to film one of these, I've found my blog posts to be easier and clearer to understand. But for this, to talk about and to Kirsten Scott... I felt like she and everyone else needed to see my face, and the look in my eyes as I say what I need to say.
Kirsten, firstly I want to say to you that I get where you're coming from. It might not look like it to you, but I do. You put in a lot of work, you fought James and the House back mostly on your own, and you didn't want anyone else moving in on your fight, your territory, your claim, whatever you want to call it.
For a few weeks there, you had me feeling like you were one hundred percent right, and I was a terrible person. Trying to use your fight as a way to raise myself up, or be relevant, or whatever other selfish reason there could be for me stepping in and, according to you, taking over what you started. In fact I was this close to apologizing and stepping back and letting you have the moral high ground. After all, you called out an injustice that you saw, and you had valid reasons to back you up.
It's well known at this point I think that the last few months, I haven't been in the best place mentally or emotionally. I haven't tried to hide that at all. And everything you said to me Kirsten, only added to that.
I was a terrible person, I was selfish, I was using people.
All things that I accused myself of during my darker days, before rehab and getting sober. The more you spoke, the more it made sense, and the more I believed it.
But... then I spoke with a few people. One in particular, who essentially yelled at me and brought me back to my senses. I wasn't being selfish. I saw a situation I recognized and stepped up to put a stop to, out of selflessness. I could have done what you said I should have done, and minded my own business. Stayed out of hers. I could have pretended I saw nothing and let everything happen, let you try to fight off James Evans and the House on your own.
I could have.
But Kirsten... there's something you need to understand here, and that is this:
There is a difference between minding your own business, and looking the other way.
Letting that hang in the air for a moment, Amy unfolds her legs and leans forward, resting her arms on her knees.
Do you know what happens when a person sees injustice going on and turns away? They become jaded. Cold. They start to believe that because they aren't looking at it anymore, that it's gone away. But that's not how the world works, and we see that today in the news, every day. One social injustice or another is in the headlines. The children who were seen by neighbors dirty and starving, and did nothing until the ambulance carted the little body away. The LGBT person who got bullied and harassed and kicked down until they couldn't fight back anymore, and paid the ultimate price just for daring to exist. The woman who showed up to work a few times a week with a new bruise, until all of a sudden she didn't go to work anymore.
All things that could have been stopped, had someone decided to stick themselves into someone else's business.
Looking down at her hands a moment, Amy grins to herself, thinking. Without looking up, she goes on.
I can't tell you how many times in my life I wish someone had gotten into my business. How different things could have been for me.
Amy looks up now, the grin gone, replaced by solemnity.
What if someone had gotten into my business, when I was in college and dating a man who started telling me how to dress, or who to be friends with, before I married him?
What if someone had gotten into my business, when I married that man and soon fell out of contact with almost everyone, and before he put me into the hospital?
What if someone had gotten into my business, the first time I drank too much and made myself sick, before I made it a habit?
What if?
Amy shakes her head, and shrugs.
Or, let's look at it another way. What if one of my best friends had minded his own business the day I called for help while I laid beaten and struggling to breathe on my own living room floor?
What if that same man, the father of my daughter, had looked the other way the day our daughter called him because she couldn't wake me up, when I had accidentally overdosed?
What if, now as my husband, he had looked the other way the last time I screwed everything up, and just walked away, done with my shit?
What if?
Amy leans forward a bit more, staring a glare into the camera, directly at The One.
Are you getting the picture yet?
I could have stayed out of it. I could have looked the other way. But if I did that, I would have turned my back on everything I've stood for and fought for, in the last twenty years. I would have been one of those people who stand by while atrocities happen, doing nothing, because hey... it wasn't happening to me.
If you really think for one moment that's something I would do? Then you have no idea who I am.
Here's the thing about the situation with James Evans and The House. I knew what was going to happen. I know how he thinks, how he operates. I dealt with it myself eight years ago, and there was no way I was going to look the other way while he and his ilk ran roughshod over you, and other younger people on this roster.
This might sound like a joke to you, Kirsten, since you also seem to have a problem with me speaking with some of the younger talent... but I take my position here as a ring and locker room veteran very seriously. This business has given me damn near everything good and beautiful in my life, and if I can give back in any possible way... I will do it. Whether that's by offering advice to those young talents seeking it, or stepping in when I see something going on that they don't recognize as an issue, or even putting myself out there to put a stop to a dangerous person I've dealt with before, because I know for a fact that not a goddamn single one of you had any idea what you were getting into.
If you can't accept the fact that I saw you needed help and I gave it, that's a you problem, Kirsten. Not a me problem.
Amy sits back again, pulling her legs up as before, then shrugs, with her hands in the air.
Maybe you think asking for, or accepting help makes you weak. Maybe you were taught to do everything yourself because for a long time you had no other choice. Maybe... I don't know, a lot of things could cause someone to refuse to ask for help. Trust me, I know. I fought it myself for a long time. But one thing I've learned through all of my struggles and issues, is that asking for, and accepting help isn't weak at all. It's one of the strongest and brave things a person can do. It can be a hard pill to swallow, acknowledging that there's something that you just can't do on your own.
I didn't step in to “your fight” because I didn't think you could handle it, or that you aren't capable of protecting yourself. I did it, because I knew you had no idea what he was really capable of, and I couldn't watch anyone else go through what I did. What Kennedy Street did. It doesn't mean I think less of you, Kirsten. It means I think you are worth fighting for.
Amy spreads her arms out to her sides.
So, if you want to get in my face and fight be because I dared to stick myself into your business, fine. Bring it on. I will accept that consequence and face you with a good heart.
Amy places one hand over her heart as she says the word.
Because for me, the alternative would have been becoming the type of person I'm trying my hardest every day to eradicate from the world, and I will never do that.
I will never look the other way. That's a promise you can count on.
Amy gives a solemn look into the camera for a few second before the video clicks off.