Damen tried running, but Vivian’s hand pulled him back. He asked, “What are you doing? Do you actually want this?” Damen became highly confused.
“Yes, as a matter of fact she does,” Mr. Fryer announced with Vivian looking into his eyes.
“I’m talking to her, not you, asshole.”
She paused for a minute before she answered, gave her verdict on the tormenting situation that her mind and body had to endure. She glanced over Tom’s naked shoulders and looked into the mirror, seeing her face red as an apple, with tears that sparkled in the light from the room. She looked around this office, dome, cave, this place of hellish desires and colors, then ran out the door. Damen threw one bag, out of two, of the Chinese food at Tom and followed Vivian, exiting the waiting room in an upbeat rhythm. Damen grabbed onto her when they reached the outside and pulled Vivian close to him, like he wanted to protect her at this particular time, make her know that he wouldn’t allow harm to come to her sight, as long as she’s entrapped in his arms, gently.
Tom Fryer ran out of the building with his trousers unbuckled, and his shirt undone, gawking at Vivian, standing by the doorway, he glanced in a malicious stare at her precious eyes. Tom came toward her while a cab pulled up next to Damen’s feet. They got in the cab, before Mr. Fryer could speak a word, brainwash her again, and took off. He told the cabdriver to drive anywhere as he held onto Vivian’s shaky body; right now, anywhere was better than here.
“Thank you,” she spoke, wiping a tear away with her shaky and tear-drenched hand.
“What the hell happened up there?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Just hold me.” The wind from the opened window blew into her face and dried her tears, creating a cold breeze on her flesh; like placing cold water on your body and jumping into a warm pool.
The cab drove for an hour. They did not speak a word to each other the whole time. Damen finally told the cabdriver to stop the cab, seeing that he didn’t have enough money to drive any longer. The cabdriver stopped right in front of the hill that held the Hollywood sign; it was too perfect. They both got out of the car and just stood there while Damen paid the driver, seeing that it was night and the dirt road of void stretched far and wide.
Suddenly, Vivian ran toward the hill and began climbing it. Damen seeing her from a distance, he started to run after her, and tried to keep close; he knew that this hill wasn’t familiar to him that much, and without her to guide, he would be lost. Finally reaching her when they both came to the top of the hill, grabbing onto he arm gently, he followed her sight, gazing at the Hollywood sign in an intriguing daze. Damen went down her arm and grabbed onto her hand, while holding the second bag filled with Chinese food in the other; they both stared at the sign, without words, without thought.
Sitting down on the grass at the same time, Damen questioned, “So, you want some Chinese food?”
“Sure.” A smile appeared on her frightened face, she was happy in his presence.
“There’s only a little bit here, I threw the other bag at that ass,” he said with a smile. They ate the food without speaking a word to each other. Damen finished his dinner first and got up from the ground, brushing his pants off from the strands of crushed grass that hung from his behind. He then grabbed a rock, questioning, “So, are you going to tell me what happened down there?”
“You don’t want to hear it.”
“Try me,” he said, throwing the rock a long distance, showing through the rock’s momentum that his anger was high.
“He always does that to me.” She looked down at the ground, hiding the shame of her actions; Damen saw her pain.
“He always forces sex upon you?”
“That, too... But... he always tries to control me. That’s just the way he is.” Vivian looked at his face, showing her guilt through her beautiful but saddened blue eyes.
“Listen, what he’s doing is wrong... you could go to the police,” he said as he threw another rock even farther.
“No, not the police, not anyone,” she cried out.
“Alright, alright, we won’t go to the cops. But, what I want to know is why, why won’t you go to them?” he asked, sitting down beside her in a delicate way.
“Listen to me, my career would be over if I went to the cops, or anyone. It would be over before it began.” She got up from the ground and watched Damen’s eyes, seeing how many questions he had in them, and hoping they would stay there.
“Why would it be over?” he slowly said, staring at her face in confusion.
“Do you know how powerful Mr. Fryer is?” She then picked up a stone and twirled it around in her shaking fingers.
“No, I don’t... Why, how powerful is he?”
“He is one of the top talent agents in California. Being in this, this business for so many years. Tom knows almost every single agency around, every director, producer, and the list goes on and on. In his database, and phone book alone, he has names of the greatest actors around—friends of his, but not clients. Basically, he could destroy Elvis’ career, but he’s dead,” she replied, dropping the stone from her hand. She was tired, sick of fighting with this battle for her ambition, and fatigued at these piercing thoughts of how Tom treated her, and would still treat her if she went back to work.
“So, if you get him in trouble, he’ll take away your dream?” asked Damen. He got up and looked at Vivian, knowing that this was getting to be a very serious conversation. The silent breeze from the mountain, or hill, ran against their faces, hands, their entire bodies, and felt tranquil, peaceful as its texture showed clement to its cycle.
“Not take it away, but destroy it.” She paused, stopped, ended her voice, thinking of the words she’s going to say next, Vivian stared into his eyes and added, “You see, no one could ever take away someone’s dream. That’s the one thing that we’re in control of. But, people can prevent your dream from happening, and Mr. Fryer is one of them.” A tear came down from her left eye, showing its terror that she had to see, and revealing its secrets that only Vivian knew.
“I don’t know why you just won’t quit that job? Did you know you can get another one?” He looked up at the stars above, adding, “I’m sure there’s a lot of other talent agents looking for a good secretary like yourself. Why don’t you just go look for another talent agent?”
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 do
n’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.
IV
Through the Vanity of Reality
the Angel Now Shows the Other Side of Its Wings...
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.
Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) Page 20