Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (3 page)

Chapter Two

They all met one
day when Damen was talking to himself in the Valley at the age of
eight. A normal game of pretend is what he called it, but it was a
day that altered his future forever. Jose came down and asked him,
“What are you doing, are you talking to an imaginary friend or
something?”

Damen turned around, and faced this new
person, this new boy that he hadn’t ever seen before; even in his
small town. Suddenly a gust of wind blew through the Valley side,
and entered into it, blowing at a great speed; it was as if the
Valley was born, or woke up to this innocence. Damen looked around
the Valley and saw how the green, pasture-like hills reflected the
sun’s rays, and shot out its bright, intriguing colors toward these
young creatures. The light, from the sun up above, shined down onto
the pond’s blue body and caused a single fish to jump up from its
stomach, and show itself to the youth. Damen turned around to look
at the fish, while still wondering who this new face, this new
person was, and smiled toward it. The trees waved against the wind,
swaying back and forth, and the sounds of crickets could be heard
like raindrops, falling at a fast pace.

Damen’s place, his Valley, was no longer a
secret, to his mind, his eyes; it wasn’t hidden away in his soul
anymore, to only have his eyes to capture its beauty. Another gust
of wind blew down, causing Jose’s black hair to twist about, and
around, and causing Damen’s small, babyface to turn toward this new
face once again. He didn’t know what to say, or how to react to
Jose’s presence. But something, some force allowed his shyness to
hide; it was like the Valley told him to do so. Through the wind,
and through the Valley’s skin, on how it blew around with such
captivating beauty, it was like the Valley told Damen to speak to
Jose. God was present in the Valley that day, or else he was the
Valley, he was the beauty that was withheld in its stomach. For
that, the Valley, this grand hole in the Earth, allowed Damen’s
life to change, to be altered by him saying, “No, I’m just
pretending, is all. Haven’t you ever pretended you were somebody
else before?”

“Sure, plenty of times. Who are you
pretending to be?” asked Jose. Then, a new face, not to Damen, but
to Jose, a new person showed himself, slowly walking behind Jose,
sealing up his zipper on his pants at the same moment. It was
Darell, Damen’s friend. Darell came up behind him, not knowing who
he was, and stared at Jose too.

“I’m pretending I’m a cowboy, just like in
the movies,” Damen replied. Jose then turned around to see Darell,
and noticed a wet spot on the center of his pants.

“Oh ... hi, my name’s Darell,” he said,
following Jose’s eyes to where the spot of wetness lay on his
pants. “Oops, don’t worry about that; it’s just water,” he added in
an extremely embarrassed tone.

“My name’s Damen,” he announced. He held out
his hand toward Jose, while shaking his head toward Darell’s wet
spot; it was as if Darell did it all the time.

“I’m Jose.” Suddenly someone fell down the
Valley’s hill and tumbled down the tall grass. It startled all
three of them and caused them to turn to see what it was.

“Who’s that?” questioned Damen. In his view
was a red-haired girl with cuts on her legs, dusting off the grass
from her hair.

“That’s my friend Maria,” After Jose spoke
those words, embarrassment took hold of his face, from Maria’s
clumsiness, and turned it into a shade of red.

Damen’s eyes lit up with sunshine. Watching
Maria walk over to him, he had a new feeling come to his young
body; that female/male feeling. The way her beauty formed on her
face intrigued Damen’s eyes and allowed them to give out a sort of
twinkle toward this girl, this piece of heaven. He watched her dust
the grass off her hair and walk slowly toward him. “Oh, I know you.
You’re Damen, right? You’re the one that has that rich father.”

“My father is not rich. He’s just a hard
worker, is all.” He didn’t know why Maria said that to him; it made
him uncomfortable. Suddenly Darell pushed him, and knocked the
uncomfortable, embarrassed feeling out of his sight and mind.

“You’re it,” shouted Darell. All of them
began running away from Damen and forming their hands in an “L”
shape to make a gun.

Damen tagged Jose with his hand and screamed,
“Ah, I got you, no tag backs either. You’re it, you’re it, you’re a
rotten idiot,” shouting it even louder. Jose began laughing at
Damen’s remark; it was a type of laughter that was full of nothing
but pure, tranquil happiness.

They danced around the Valley, playing a game
that was older than they were. In a way, they were showing the
Valley themselves, their characters, and allowing the Valley to
care for them like a loved one. They ran with great speed around
parts of the Valley that Damen hadn’t even seen, and caused the
Valley’s body to tickle, to feel happiness, and allowed a graceful
smile to come upon it. Even though they couldn’t see it smiling,
its beauty, its texture, how it was so natural, allowed it, in a
sense, to smile with glee.

The Valley watched them play, scream out
words of happy meaning, and watched them begin to gain a bond, a
trust with themselves and for one another. This day, this special
sector in life, was finally alive, present, it finally showed to
reality; a moment when a real friendship was born. They played for
an hour straight, running around, and screaming with laughter,
until Jose’s laughter came to a halt when he spoke, “Wait a second,
I got to go now.”

“I got to go now also,” Damen and Maria said
simultaneously.

“Yeah, me too,” added Darell, trying to catch
his breath from the running.

“Hey, are you coming back here tomorrow?”
questioned Jose. Damen looked at Jose and tried to figure out if he
should say yes or no. It was like Damen wasn’t sure, didn’t know if
he wanted to begin a friendship with Jose. But once he caught sight
of Maria again, her beauty, his decision became easier to make.

“Why, are you?” Damen asked. Jose looked at
Maria and tried to figure out the same thing, if he should say yes
or no. Jose stared at Maria, Damen stared at Darell, not knowing
what to say; and this time Jose didn’t have a girl, with intriguing
beauty to his sight, to help with his decision.

“Yeah, I’ll be here,” replied Jose. At that
point, once those words were spoken, Damen saw a smile appear on
his face.

Suddenly, Damen made a decision, a decision
that would alter his life forever. Jose’s smile reflected onto his
face when Damen opened his mouth, made his words leave his mind,
and allowed the Valley to smile tremendously at all of them. “Well
then, I guess I’m gonna be here too.”

“See you then,” said Jose. He and Maria
walked back up the hill, without realizing that this place, this
Valley, was going to be their most sacred, prized secret, their
happiness.

“Bye,” spoke Damen, seeing that Darell’s had
also received a smile from Jose.

That is how their friendships began, and
that’s where their dreams of becoming a famous movie star started.
It started with a simple game of pretend, of make-believe. A simple
game that began a difficult image in each of their minds: an image
of becoming famous, which isn’t an easy task to take on.

They all did come back the following day, and
even the next day after that they returned. As a matter of fact,
they came back every day. They went from pretending they were
cowboys to pretending they were famous characters from movies as
their ages grew to a higher number. Their simple vocabulary rose to
a complex one, and so did the screenplays they read as their ages
grew. The years passed on, and Sugar Valley still withheld the
boys’ dreams; everything they spoke, or cried out, the Valley
heard. They went through grammar school together with a feeling of
excitement. The reason for that was they knew each of them only had
four more years to go until they would make their dream into
reality. The boys all planned that when they finished high school,
they would make the journey to California to make their ambition
come true in the Hollywood spotlight, not knowing that 10,000 other
actors were going to do the same thing.

Freshman, sophomore, junior and senior year
came and went just as each new script was read. The boys turned
into men and their dream turned into a faded memory, a memory that
faded as each day passed. It became an illusion, a reflection of a
happy life, which they would always think about, but never follow
through with. All of them took jobs with their fathers and lives
that they didn’t want, but did not realize. It wasn’t until one day
in early June, when they realized that they had to take action.
This day, this monstrous moment, was a day that their mission
began, started. This was the day they would finally decide to take
the reflection of their dreams and bring them into reality, bring
them into the third dimension.

They were all down in the Valley, going over
the play Our Town, when Jose jumped up and began a speech that
would change their lives, their destinies, forever.

“What are we doing?” uttered Jose, dropping
the script into the pond, creating a small wave that scared the one
fish who called it home.

“We’re going over a script, idiot, that took
me three weeks to receive from New York. Also, it cost me $5.00 per
script, which you owe me for dropping the damn thing in the water,”
Damen replied. Seeing the script bobbing toward the middle of the
pond made his anger grow.

“Listen to me, Damen. I mean it, what the
hell are we doing, man?”

“What do you mean, dude?”

Even though Jose wasn’t clear about the
objective he was speaking and asking about, deep down in Damen’s
soul, he knew exactly what Jose meant. But, it was so deep within
his soul’s eye, his spirit, which he didn’t want to reveal it, and
say it out loud, only because it would hurt too much to say
orally.

Jose retorted with, “I mean ... what are we
doing? We come down to this spot every day and go over scripts that
only can be heard by one person as our fan; that person’s Maria.
Sorry, no offense, Maria, but seriously, it’s true. So, like I
said, what the hell are we doing? Are we losers or what?” They
became speechless, they didn’t have an answer for him, only because
they wondered the same thing, but were too afraid to say it, or ask
it. Jose then jumped on top of a boulder, like he was a preacher,
and waited for a reply; but it was a reply that would be a struggle
to receive.

“What are you trying to say?” Darell asked,
throwing his script down as well.

“I think you know what I’m trying to say ...
I think it’s time.”

“Time for what?” questioned Maria. She
dropped the fishing pole and sat closer to the boulder, curious
about what Jose would say next. She knew what Jose meant, but she
desired him to say it, explain it, so Damen and Darell would
recognize it.

“It’s time for us to go. You know, go, like
we’ve been planning, but haven’t really discussed lately,” he
answered. His tone gave out a sort of sarcasm to his questions, but
he realized it wasn’t enough, because they were still speechless,
mute, they were still silent to the truth. He then exhaled a deep
breath, and said, “It’s time for us to go and make the journey, the
trip. I know it sounds corny, but it’s true.”

“I don’t think we’re ready to go yet. I think
we should wait a little bit longer, that way we’ll have more money
and more practice,” Damen explained, brushing his hand through his
golden-brown hair with anger, finding a ladybug walking in the
strands. His fear of leaving the Valley caused his mind to lose the
bravery, the courage to leave his home behind. In a sense, he was
sticking up for the Valley; his fear allowed him to.

“What do you mean, Damen? Listen to yourself,
would ya? You’re not making any sense. We already have five grand
saved up for the trip. And we have all these years of experience.
We’re already twenty-one years old, I think it’s time,” stated
Jose. Maria tried calming him down by jumping on the boulder and
kissing him on the cheek, but his vision was stronger, and fighting
for it was the number one thing.

“Calm down, sweetie,” Maria said in a low
tone. Damen looked at her kissing Jose and became jealous; his
crush for her had remained with him since childhood. He wished in
his mind that she was kissing him instead, feeling her soft lips
touching his timid soul; Damen was now ticked off. This possessed
Damen to argue with Jose more, but for the wrong reason; jealousy
was on his mind.

“If we do go on this trip ... when will we
leave?” Darell asked. He got up from the grassy ground and brushed
the dirt off from his pants, but Damen still showed no
movement.

“We’re not going anywhere, case closed,”
Damen shouted in a controlling voice. The jealousy from Maria
kissing Jose filled his head even more.

Jose ignored him altogether and snapped, “We
leave tomorrow.”

“Fine, you guys can go alone,” Damen said,
picking up the script that had floated to the edge of the pond; the
one that Jose dropped in the water. He slowly began drying it with
his pants, pretending that this conversation wasn’t occurring.

“No, if we leave, we’re leaving together. We
can even leave next month,” Darell stated, looking at Jose, hoping
that he’d talk to Damen maturely.

Jose jumped off the boulder and said, “No,
I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“Why do you want to leave so soon?” asked
Damen. He sat down on the dark green grass of the Valley, and tried
changing Jose’s mind, his plan of action.

“Listen ... each day we come here, it seems
more and more like a hobby, and less like an ambition,” yelled
Jose.

“No, you listen to me, Jose. Do you think
this trip is going to be one big adventure? Do you realize, five
thousand dollars isn’t going to be enough, isn’t going to cut it to
survive out there? Besides, I got to help my father with the
cornfield tomorrow,” explained Damen. His voice grew even stronger
and louder; his mind was still mixed with jealousy and the decision
to leave.