Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (27 page)

She gave a grin, as if a memory was coming
back of happiness, and then stared at the Hollywood sign once more.
It was like the sign symbolized something to her, a dream, or a bit
of hope that she wanted so badly. “Listen to me, when I was a
little girl, my father always told me that I’m not going to become
famous, my dream began that early in my life. He always wanted me
to become something else besides an actor. The day before he died,
I told him that I am going to make it as an actor. I told him that
I’m going to become famous, whether he liked it or not. The day
after he died, I came here and then I started working for Mr.
Fryer. Ever since then, Mr. Fryer has always promised me fame. How
childish it sounds. I’m not going to let him go back on his word. I
don’t care; I went through so much agony working with him. He raped
me and sexually harassed me, Damen. I did my time, now it’s time
for me to have what I was promised. I’ve earned it.”

Tears came flowing out of both eyes, not
having her own hands to be able to control them; like an
overflowing dam, having the water break through with all of its
thrust.

“Calm down, it’s gonna be okay,” he
whispered, holding her tight. Damen wanted to stop her tears from
shedding.

“I mean, am I crazy?” Even more tears fell
upon Damen’s jacket at this point, but they were slowing down.

“No, you’re not crazy,” he answered, rocking
her back and forth slowly, Damen wanted to protect her. “I promise
you, you’re not crazy.”

They sat down on the ground again and just
stared at the city lights from a distance, twinkling, beaming out
their monumental beauty. Vivian looked away from the lights and
said to Damen’s face, “Thank you for all you’ve done, Damen. I know
you don’t know me that well, but you’ve done a lot for me so
far.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Hey, that little accent you have is almost
gone,” she laughed out.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Staring, fixing their eyes at each
other, she added, “Well, since I told you how I decided to come to
Hollywood and what I had to go through here, now it’s your
turn.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, how did you end up here? What did you
have to go through?” she asked as she looked up at Damen’s
golden-brown hair.

“Do you want me to explain the whole
thing?”

“Yes, but don’t make it too long,” Vivian
replied with a small giggle.

“Well, you see, me and my friends always had
a strong friendship, you know? It was like a type of bond that no
one could break ever; it’s corny to say here, but out there it was
never corny. We would always practice acting in a Valley called
Sugar, Sugar Valley to be exact. My parents never knew about my
ambition. As a matter of fact, none of our parents did. I remember,
on the last day in the Valley, Jose went home and called me on the
phone. He woke me up in the middle of the night crying. You see,
his father was beating him again; he always abused him. That’s when
I really made up my mind about coming to Hollywood. Jose needed me.
Jose and I are like brothers. We always talk to each other about
our problems and mainly helped each other a lot. My third friend,
Darell, is my best friend too, but he’s not as close to me as Jose
is. Almost, but not quite.”

She cut him off, by asking, “Sugar? That’s
the name of the Valley?”

“Yeah, it’s right next to our town, Ridge
Crest, and hardly no one knows about it. I mean, there used to be
an old mine in it, and that’s why, I guess, a long time ago, people
never went to it. And then we were born, after they closed the
mine, and after awhile, people forgot about it, as the new
generation came up. ‘Out of sight, out of mind,’ is what they say.
Anyway, the reason why our friendships are so strong is because, I
guess, our ambition, that we only kept in that Valley.” A subtle
laugh came from his tone, pausing at his humorous thought, he then
added, “We all used to say that the Valley was alive, I mean,
really alive.”

“Why?”

“It’s stupid, I know, but for some reason,
when I was younger, when we all were younger, you could actually
hear and feel the Valley’s presence and voice. It was like our
mother, every wind that blew in its hole, we could somehow actually
hear a voice, its voice. I know, it’s stupid, but when you’re
younger, you would believe anything, and that was one of our
beliefs, but we would never talk about it, ever; we would keep it
to ourselves. We mentioned it a few times, but never seriously
conversed about it. Anyway, nevertheless, we all made an oath to
come here and become famous together, the same reason why every
actor comes to California, but I noticed that they’re changing,”
Damen explained with a sigh that followed. “I mean, we’re not even
in California more than a week and I’ve already heard lies come out
of both of them. I guess it’s just a phase, I hope it is. I hope
this Hollywood won’t change them at all, but... I guess I have to
see,” Damen added with a soothing voice.

“Do your parents know now?” she asked,
staring deeper into his eyes. Vivian wanted him to go on, she loved
the sound of his voice, and his tender lips that flapped as he
talked. What she didn’t know, but would soon find out, is that
Damen felt the same way about her. “You know, about you all wanting
this ambition?”

“Well, I guess so. You see, Darell wrote them
a letter saying the reason for us leaving, but it didn’t say where
we were going.” He stared at her lips closely, the way she would
lick them ever so often, made his own lips want to crave them,
touch them, and hold them till the break of dawn.

“At least you have a home to go to. Ever
since my father died, my mother doesn’t want me anywhere near her
home,” she said. Vivian stared at his lips as well, feeling the
same way about them, wanting them at this moment.

“My mother and father probably are thinking
the same way as your mother. Now, we all have to get jobs to pay
our rent and get food on the table,” he said, looking away from her
for a glance at the woods and trees that surrounded and protected
their moment of privacy. “Do you know of any jobs that are
available?”

“I tell you what, would you like to be an
extra? You know, the actors that walk back and forth in the
background of a movie,” she asked as her lips came closer to his.
“They pay six-fifty an hour.”

“Sure, when could I start?” he questioned,
closing his eyes.

“You could start tomorrow.” Vivian closed her
eyes and grabbed onto his hand, feeling this moment of intimacy and
passion made them both want only one thing tonight; to be
together.

“I’d like that a lot.” Their lips pressed,
touched, went against each other, all passion was in the
motion.

Suddenly, Vivian raised her voice while
pushing her lips away from his, “Wait, I can’t do this.”

“What do you mean?” he questioned in a
confused, but still soothing voice.

“Listen, you don’t even know me. You don’t
want to get involved with me.” Vivian answered, grabbing a
cigarette from her pocket, and holding it in her hand.

“I want to know you, I want to get involved
with you. I never said that to a girl before, but I know I mean
it.” His hormones were pumped, ready to work, and this moment was
something Damen wasn’t going to pass up, without a fight for
it.

“I’m the type of person that would do
anything for fame, success, Damen. I would give up the people I
love and care for just to achieve it.” Vivian lit up a cigarette
and started smoking it heavily, blowing the smoke toward the
Hollywood sign in huge quantities.

“Vivian, what are you trying to say?” Damen
took the cigarette away from her and stared at her eyes, making
sure he would see them as she answered.

“I don’t know.” She put her hand on her head,
feeling confusion in her words, Vivian didn’t know how to handle
this precious moment.

“Are you trying to say you care for me? Or
else, love me?”

“No, but I’m sure it will lead up to that. I
care for you, Damen, that’s why you shouldn’t get involved with me.
I don’t want to hurt you.” She looked up at the Hollywood sign,
finishing with, “Besides, I’ve only known you for a little
while.”

“Listen, I’m a big boy. I think I could
handle it,” he said, stepping closer to her, feeling this moment of
passion once more.

“Are you sure?” she asked, stepping closer to
him, their lips an inch apart.

He looked all around him and above. Turning
to look at her, he whispered, “Yes, I’m positive. You know, Vivian,
I never was alone with a woman before. But, I want to be alone with
you.” He gazed at her face, eyes, breasts, her hair that swayed and
sailed in the wind’s current, seeing how she seemed and looked like
an angel; Damen really wanted to be in her tonight. He gently
touched her face, with his hands, slowly caressing her lips, so
delicately, that she almost couldn’t feel it; the only feeling, was
the warmth of his hands, searching her lips, feeling their beauty.
Damen looked in her eyes, having the Hollywood sign to guide his
sight toward the silhouette of her pupils, he kissed her lips
gently, only a peck, and then looked at her, to see if she wanted
more.

She blinked once, and then grasped onto his
lips with hers, feeling like one unity, one spirit, and in a way,
reaching down to the depths of his soul and feeling its innocence.
“Well, Damen Schultz, I want to be with you too,” she whispered,
her lips to his, still feeling the warm air blowing against her
flesh.

Suddenly, they fell to the ground underneath
the Hollywood sign, kissing and caressing each other, Vivian’s care
for Damen was beginning to form into love. Damen forgot about his
Love, he forgot about the girl he always had a crush on, that girl
whose name was Maria. He suddenly began to give the feelings for
Maria to Vivian, and he forgot about his dream of fame once more.
The trees were the only witness to this passion, lust, this body of
innocence being taken away, but in the right way. Damen thought
this was it, this is why he came here, was drawn here, for this
girl that reached for his heart and created prosperity from within
him. But, little did he know that new problems would come to him,
and just by catching Tom Fryer raping her; his nightmare should,
and most inevitably would, begin.

Chapter Eighteen

Jose and Darell awoke to the sound of
pounding, yelling, and some form of conversation at the motel door.
Jose was the first to awake with both eyes opened, while Darell
only revealed one eyeball, and then closed that one, still trying
to fight his other eyelid to lift and see what the noise was.
Jose’s tired body got up and saw that Damen wasn’t there. Scanning
the room, noticing only Darell’s figure, he said in a joking way,
“I’m not letting you in, Damen.” He walked up to the door and
opened it slowly with the chain lock still on. He looked out and
asked, “Late night, huh?”

“It’s gonna be a late night for you, on the
streets that is,” a large man replied in total seriousness. He
stood outside the door, with a stocky figure, and two security
guards by his side.

“What?” Jose’s eyes widened, staring at the
guards and this man; he was dumbfounded at this view.

“Your rent was due yesterday, but I was a
nice enough to let you guys stay an extra night,” the man replied
with an evil grin on his face.

Today’s temperature was one of the highest
heat waves that California ever felt, feeling this momentous
temperature, and how it felt like hell decided to move to L.A.,
caused the hallways of this motel to resemble something of an oven.
For that, the past urine stains, among other things that absorbed
into the hallway’s skin, allowed a stench to seep through it, and
fill the entire building with this terrible aroma that Jose smelled
the moment he opened his door up a crack.

Jose stared at the stocky man, and the two
guards, also smelling their own body odor, and how it was almost
piercing at Jose’s eyes, like giving him a warning not to open the
door fully. He just wanted to close his door, seal it, end the
stench, and escape to his air-conditioned room. He also wanted to
close it, because all of his cool air was leaking out into the
scorching hot hallway, passing by these three men, reviving them
with a little cool breeze to dry their perspiring figures, and
vanish in the heat, having it kill it and turn it into its own
temperature of uncomfortableness. But, he must keep it opened,
seeing these three men of importance, Jose had to talk to them;
against his will of course.

“We thought it was due next week, isn’t it?”
Jose’s eyes were still a little bit sticky, feeling them stretch
from his sleep as he tried to focus in on what was happening, and
what the outcome will be. He looked around the room for a moment,
seeing Darell getting up from the floor, where he was sleeping,
Jose then turned back and faced these three men. He just wanted to
close the door in their faces, and crawl back to bed; his fatigue
was itching at his mind, telling him to lay down, and forget about
this situation.

“What do you think this place is? Do think
it’s an apartment?” the man asked. He pushed on the door once,
adding, “Do you have the money or not?”

Jose yawned briefly, still fighting his
fatigue, he questioned, “How much do we owe?”

Darell heard the man’s words, and lingered
his body up to the door, standing behind it, not allowing these
three men to see or notice his presence.

“You owe $352, that’s not including today’s
stay.”

“Oh, really? That much, huh?” While Jose
talked, and tried his hardest, fighting his hardest to keep the
situation and the conversation going, to buy him time to think,
Darell was busy looking through his wallet, finding only five
dollars to his name.