“How long?”
“Well, the Doctor told me he could survive up to sixteen hours, or even less. They don’t know themselves. He sustained a lot of internal bleeding in the stomach area,” Chuck responded with them walking into the hospital.
“Um, I, um, I have to call his parents,” Damen spoke in a loud tone, perceiving they must be worried sick about Jose.
“They’re already on their way. Darell’s and your parents are coming too. They saw everything on TV, I just got off the phone with them. They’ll be here in less than an hour and a half.” Chuck and Damen began walking faster, wanting to get to Jose’s room as soon as possible.
While Damen walked up to Jose’s room, he felt sick to his stomach, the fears, and the guilt mixed together caused him to vomit before he entered it. As he entered it, he saw Julienne with a cast on her leg and arm; she was holding Jose’s hand. He saw Dennis and Henry Schultz in there too, they were sitting down in chairs. Damen walked past them all and came to Jose’s sight, seeing him bandaged up, pale face was his complexion, and watery eyes was his sight. Damen whispered, “So, how ya doin’, jerk?”
Jose began laughing, chuckling, “I’ve been better, asshole.”
Damen didn’t want Jose to see his fears or his sadness, all he wanted to do was make Jose happy in his last hours of life. But he had to make amends with Jose, for his sake and for Jose’s dying self. “Jose, um, I’m so sorry for everything that happened. I mean, I forgive you for stealing Vivian away from me; she was only a girlfriend. Our friendship is more important,” Damen stated as Julienne looked at him.
“Thank you, Damen. I want to apologize for the lie that I told about you,” spoke Jose. Julienne began walking away from them, seeing her lies were about to come out, not wanting to be there when they did.
“What lie?” Damen was confused, not noticing that Julienne was ready to exit the room.
“The lie about you being on drugs. The only reason I told it was because I wanted the co-star role in The Point of a Well. I was going to tell Henry and Dennis that it was a lie. I know I would have told them directly after the lie started, but then I found out that you told a lie about me,” coughed Jose, trying to keep up his inhaling and exhaling to the best of his ability.
“You mean, your part in the movie was supposed to go to me?”
Julienne began to walk out of the room. “Yeah.” Jose’s words showed that his guilt and fear shined through, also it gleamed by him crying toward Damen’s sight.
“Jose, I never told a lie about you,” explained Damen in puzzlement.
The doctor came in the room to hook Jose to an oxygen tank, allowing them both to realize their own deceits were not of each other, but of somehow, Julienne Wells betraying them both.
While all the lies that Julienne began were being revealed, Julienne walked to the elevator to escape them. As soon as the elevator doors opened, she saw her ex-agent come out of it. He asked in a frantic expression, “Are you alright, Julienne?”
“What do you care, Mike?”
He looked at her with confusion, then he gave her a hug, stating with caring to his character, “Because, I heard on the news that you got shot also. I do care about you, Julienne. Just because I’m not your agent anymore, doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings for you.”
“Well, I’m fine. Now, if you would excuse me, I have to go,” Julienne stated, hopping her way into the elevator.
“Go? You’re not going anywhere, the people outside will stomp you to death. You’re staying right here, where it’s safe.” Mike was strict but caring at the same time, grabbing her by the arm and guiding her out of the elevator.
“I just want to get out of here,” yelled Julienne. She then saw two police officers walking down the hall, causing her to become paranoid. She felt the police already knew that she was at fault for the shootings. “On second thought, I think it would be better to take the stairway.”
“Are you crazy? Come on, I was on my way to seeing Jose anyway, so let’s go to his room,” said Mark, forcing Julienne to sit down in a wheelchair that was by the elevator.
“But I don’t want to see Jose.” Julienne sounded like a rebellious adolescent, so he treated her like one, by pushing her toward Jose’s room against her will.
Meanwhile, Jose was crying over Julienne’s lies that came out, the lies that Jose didn’t even know about.
“But, Damen, Julienne told me that you said you were spreading rumors about me. Julienne said she overheard Dennis talking about you saying that I did drugs,” cried Jose, his tears fell like water dripping from a faucet.
Damen turned his frantic head toward Dennis’ eyes, pleading, “Dennis, did I ever say that to you?”
Dennis approached them with his older brother Henry, responding toward Jose’s pale face, “No, Damen never said that to me.”
“Why would Julienne tell me that then? Why would she tell me a lie?” Jose screamed out.
Mike wheeled Julienne into Jose’s room, hearing his question echoing in his ears, as well as Julienne’s mind. Mike stopped her wheelchair and spoke from a distance, “Because she wanted to regain her success again.”
They all turned around to face Mike and Julienne, showing shock to Jose’s mind and guilt to Julienne’s face. Jose, with his feeble and twisted stomach, he gathered all of his last remaining strength, and screamed out, “What?” He stopped his words for a few seconds and then shouted in a hurtful but furious way, “Did you lie about Damen kissing you too? Was that a lie?”
Julienne got up from the wheelchair and walked to one of the corners of the room. She knew it was over for her, everything that she worked for was over, finished, destroyed, and mangled into a piece of dust that was about to blow away when she opened her mouth. She understood that fame didn’t come through for her a second time, being so close, but yet so far away from achieving it again. Before she spoke to Jose’s pale image, she thought of how nice it would have been if Mark shot the correct person, that would mean Julienne wouldn’t be in this position; but she was. All she could say was three simple words. “I’m sorry, Jose.”
Mr. Rodrigo’s eye widened, not wanting to accept it, not wanting to believe that she just apologized to him, craving that her words would say that it wasn’t true; but yet, it was. He started coughing, crying even more, and then whispered in hurt, “What? You mean it’s true what Damen tells me? You lied?”
Mike saw that she wasn’t speaking a word yet, so he turned to her, and questioned with complete seriousness, “Do you want me to tell him, or you?”
“No, I’ll tell him.”
Julienne began explaining every lie that she told, and why she told them. Every evil deed, every deceitful falsification, fabrication that she created, came out, yet the only thing that she kept inside of her was the incident where she hired Mark to kill Damen. The tears came down from Jose’s eyes and Julienne explained her story still, striving to get it all out, wanting this weight to be lifted from her chest, but it never would, because of Jose’s position that she put him in at this crucial second. Her final words to her explanation was, “I’m sorry, Jose, but I wanted to be ... successful, great, and famous again.”
“You know, if it wasn’t for you, I might not be here right now. But the sad thing to it, Julienne, is I used you too. I used you for fame, probably as much as you used me,” spoke Jose.
Julienne began walking to the doorway. “I am sorry, Jose. Goodbye.” Julienne walked out of the room, hopped down to the lobby of the hospital, and called from her cell phone for her chauffeur to pick her up. When her chauffeur finally arrived, she was on the first floor of the hospital. She heard her cell phone ringing as she frantically grabbed it and pulled up the antenna.
Nervous as could be, she answered, “Hello?”
“Miss Wells, I’ve arrived,” the chauffeur said.
“Where are you?”
“I’m out back in the alley.”
“Alright, I’ll be right out there.” As she hung up the pho
ne, suddenly Julienne saw two police officers approaching her.
She put her phone into her purse, tried her best at acting normal, not wanting to be too suspicious, and listened to one policemen question, “Excuse me, Miss Wells, but would you mind coming down to the station and answering some question?”
“Regarding what? I didn’t see anything, all I saw was my boyfriend getting shot,” Julienne defended, trying to believe that she was innocent, manifesting her thoughts into capturing her character as a tired, fatigued, and innocent girlfriend that was shaken up.
“Yes, we know. But we found the killer, he was killed himself at the building where they held the Oscar event,” the other policemen explained.
Julienne started crying. She was starting to lose it, shouting toward them, “So, what does that have to do with me?”
“Because, ma’am, we received an anonymous call about an hour ago. This stranger told us that you hired them to kill Tom Fryer and Damen Schultz. You see, we found a pager on the killer himself, and the anonymous caller gave us his access code to his voicemail. I’m sorry, Julienne, but you have the right to remain silent.”
Julienne was stubborn to the policeman’s voice, so she walked away from them, shouting in delirium, “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but I’m going home to my mansion. I’m famous, you know, and I don’t have to listen to this bullshit.”
One of the officers grabbed her, took out his handcuffs, and spoke with calmness, “Please cooperate with us, Miss Wells.”
She saw the handcuffs, and knew her fate, but still tried, in her evil mind, to escape them. So, she put up her last, and final acting performance, and questioned, “Okay, alright, but could I first go to the bathroom?” The officers looked down at the ground, not wanting her to leave their sight for a minute. “Come on, you could stand next to the bathroom if you don’t trust me. Could I go?”
“Alright, but five minutes,” the officer spoke before Julienne hopped her way into the ladies’ room.
As Julienne stood in the bathroom, staring at her image in a cracked mirror, she realized that her life was over. She walked up to a window that was directly above a heater, and tried desperately to open it, wanting to escape so bad, that her wounded body hopped its way up upon this heater of warmth. As she opened it, she gave out a smile of craziness, understanding that her last plan, of escaping the law, was about to be completed and accomplished. Yet, suddenly, Julienne heard a voice ask, “Where do you think you’re going?”
She turned around, and saw nothing in her view, but an empty bathroom of cleanliness, and a cold draft of air surrounding it. She hopped down off the heater, and stared at the stalls. One of the stall doors opened slowly, creaking its sound, and echoing in her ears. Once the stall was fully opened, out came Curtis. Julienne was horrified, yelling out, “Oh my God, what are doing here?” All she could see was him, and a knife he was holding.
One of the officers heard the scream, asking, “What was that? It sounded like Miss Wells yelling.”
“Well then, go check it out, Fred,” the other officer spoke with them both standing next to the ladies’ bathroom.
“No, I’m not going in the ladies’ bathroom, you go, Derrick.”
Fred started knocking on the door, and waited for Derrick to go in. Derrick slowly opened the bathroom entrance, saying, “Fine, then, I’ll do it.” Derrick slowly opened the door even more, shouting, “Miss Wells, are you alright in there?”
Derrick ran out of the bathroom, passing Fred, with Fred’s obese face asking, “What happened? Did she escape?”
“Where’s Lieutenant Simpson?” yelled Derrick in a frantic way.
“He’s up on the eighth floor, room 802.” Derrick began running up the stairway that was right next to the bathrooms, racing each stair in a grievous attempt to find the lieutenant, knowing what he just saw was beyond terrorizing.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Simpson was just finishing up his questions to Damen. “Well, thank you for all the information, Damen,” Lieutenant Simpson spoke, shaking Damen’s hand.
“My pleasure, sir.” Damen then began walking back into Jose’s room and saw Mike, Henry, and Dennis leaving.
Derrick finally reached the last stair, opened the doorway, and saw Lieutenant Simpson in his view. He ran toward him, down the hallway of sickness, and shouted, “Lieutenant Simpson!”
“What is it, Derrick? Can’t you see I’m busy?” Lieutenant Simpson stated, seeing Derrick reaching him and beginning to breathe heavily.
“It’s about Julienne Wells, sir.”
In the meantime, Damen closed the door because of the loud noises Derrick was making. Damen walked back to Jose and sat by him, just watching him, praying by some break of a miracle, that Jose would get better. Jose turned to Damen’s eyes that were set on him, and whispered, “What did that Simpson guy have to say to you?”
“Nothing, Jose, he just wanted to ask me some questions,” Damen replied. Damen heard from Lieutenant Simpson that Julienne was the main suspect in this case, but he didn’t want to tell Jose that. Damen felt inside of his heart, that Jose had enough to worry about.
A miracle had taken place. The miracle of destroying the button that Julienne pushed on Jose’s heart, mind, and soul. It allowed Jose to regain, recapture his adoration and brotherly love he had for Damen, the brotherly love that he felt inside. Jose’s life was vanishing before Damen’s eyes, and with it came a friend that Damen once knew, a friend that would give his life for Damen, a friend that was being reborn. Every cough that Jose gave was a sign that death was closer, creeping up behind him, ready to take his memory of the present away, without due cause, without any explanation, except for a measly gun-shot wound. That’s when Jose muttered to Damen’s tear-filled eyes, “Would you retrieve something for me?”
“Retrieve what?” Damen’s question was simple, complex, not knowing what it was he wanted. Damen still tried to squeeze out a tear, but nothing fell yet, his eyes were still watery.
Chuck stepped into the small bathroom that Jose’s room had, leaving Damen and him alone to converse about something that was serious, an issue that would mean closure for Jose’s mind.
“I don’t know how long I have left, Damen, but I know that in the past when we read scripts, we would always finish them. Well ... there’s one script that we never finished. Remember?” After Jose’s words, his own tears came down again.
Damen smiled, remembering what it was. “Yeah, I remember, it was called Our Town, we never finished it completely.”
“Could you please get it for me? I want you, me, and Darell to finish where we left off. I want us to finish that script,” he spoke in a weak tone.
“Sure, I’ll just go to a store and buy one.”
“No, I want the one that we left behind, the one that’s in Sugar Valley. Please, could you get that one?” Jose’s voice was sad and low, so he began to inhale breaths of air very quickly.
“You got it, I’ll get it right now.” Damen then ran to the bathroom door, whipped it open, and pulled Chuck out of it.
Chuck was in shock, zippering up his pants and hearing Damen imploring, “Chuck, I have to use your plane, I have to go back to Ridge Crest.”
“Why?”
Jose then spoke over them, in a very weak tone, “Damen, take my Oscar with you, just in case someone takes it from me while I’m here.”
Chuck still waited for an answer from Damen, watching as he grabbed onto the bloodstained Oscar trophy and hearing Damen question to Jose, “Why? I might lose it or something. Why don’t I just leave it here?”
“Just please, don’t ask questions, Damen.”
“Alright, Jose, we’ll be back as soon as possible. Come on Chuck, let’s go.” Damen then pulled Chuck’s suit coat, and literally dragged him out into the hallway. They both began walking fast down the hallway, while Chuck still was confused about their purpose for doing so.
Chuck then stopped, and Damen turned to face him in disarray, hearing Chuck ques
tioning in strictness, “Why are we going to Ridge Crest?”
“I’ll tell you on the plane, Chuck. But on our way to the airport, I want you to call Darell and tell him to get his butt down here,” Damen responded, starting to walk again.
They both reached the elevator with Chuck saying, “Damen, calm down. Listen to me, I want to know why we are going to Ridge Crest? Listen, do you realized how far Mississippi is from California? By the time we get back here, Jose may be gone.”
The elevator doors opened and they both stepped into it, with Damen still not answering Chuck’s question.
“Listen, I don’t know exactly why I’m going back to my hometown, all I know is that Jose wants me to. Like I said before, Chuck, I’ll tell you the reason on the plane. Right now, my mind is twirling with thoughts, and it’s driving me crazy,” he answered in a stressed, loud, and angry manner. “But right now, I want you to come with me to Ridge Crest. Will you?”
They reached the first floor of the hospital as Chuck responded, “Alright, I’ll come with you.” They exited the elevator and abruptly saw Julienne’s dead body on a stretcher, with a slit in her throat, revealing her insides and veins to her neck. They walked up to her, and Chuck asked one of the policemen, “What happened?”
“Somebody stabbed her and cut her throat in the bathroom. They stapled this to her body.” The police officer handed Chuck a bloody check.
He handed it to Damen as he explained with shock and widened eyes, “This is a check for eight million dollars.”
Damen dropped the bloody check on the ground, grabbed Chuck’s old hand, and shouted, “Come on, Chuck, let’s go.”
X
A Flashback Ends, but the Angel
Still Has Its Eyes Closed to
the Present, and the Vanity
Yearns for It to Open Them
in the Imminent Future.
Chapter Eighty-Three
Damen sat in the private jet that was leading back to his hometown, and still gazed at a photograph of his true friends that he thought became false. He was in a daze, looking at the bloodstain on his new tuxedo, and then looking back at the photo. Damen was released from his flashback, and found himself still in this empty cabin, wanting this nightmare to be over with. “I’m sorry, Damen, for yelling at you like that, it’s just I don’t want the police to blame you for these murders. I didn’t know that they had a suspect before, I’m sorry,” spoke Chuck, holding his hands close to his stomach.
Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) Page 72