Chapter 4

“Hey guys, dinner will be ready in a few minutes!” Johnson shouted from the kitchen. He is preparing the vegetable salad and buffalo wings with garlic butter sauce. He also prepared a beverage made of fresh fruits that he put in a blender.

The mention of the food made Alice’s mouth water in an instant. She realized that they had not eaten anything during the time that they went shopping and buying groceries. She went out of the room and decided to help Johnson prepare dinner. She set out the plates on the table and sat on the dining chair while watching her friend cook the buffalo wings.

“It smells delicious!” Odette came out of her room and headed straight into the kitchen. “What is it that you are cooking?” she asked.

“It’s for me to know and for you to find out!” Johnson smirked.

He knew that whatever he cooks, it will be delicious. It is like an inborn talent for him. He can easily cook from scratch and it will still taste as if you have eaten in a fine dining restaurant.

“Hmmm, I can’t wait. Let me have an appetizer first.” Odette tried to get a sip of the spicy chicken broth soup that Alice prepared on the table. It is still so hot but she doesn’t mind, it tastes like heaven.

“Alright, let us eat now because this little girl looks really hungry that she forgot about her diet.” Johnson laughed.

“It happens to be my cheat week since last night. I’ve been working hard to get this perfect body so I realized to reward myself and give in to my cravings!” Odette said proudly to her friends.

“I heard about cheat days but it is the first time that I heard about a cheat week.” Alice chuckled.

She doesn’t think that it is fair for women to go on a diet while the men are simply eating like pigs and they don’t care about their bodies. It is men’s nature to be possessed by a woman with a beautiful body while they looked down on fat women. If women will do that to them, they will be so angry and petty.

“I will be free tomorrow. Can I be your P.A tomorrow, Alice?” she asked hopefully. She heard that the actor who will be cast in the movie will be one of the actors that she admired.

“Ummm, you don’t have to be my P.A. You can simply accompany me and watch during the taping of the movie. My P.A will try to skin you alive if she knows that you are eyeing her position.” Alice said.

“That would be great! I really wanted to see Corey Ward and maybe we can have a chat!” Odette’s eyes become dreamy in an instant.

Corey Ward is an actor known for his bad-boy roles. He will play the villain in the movie where he will eventually kill Alice’s character in the middle of the story even if they are lovers in the early part of it.

“Here we go again, are you going to try to seduce Corey Ward after having a fling with Scott James?” Johnson rolled his eyes. Scott James is a promising young actor and the two of them met when Alice played the girl who fell on the horse that was saved by him in the famous fantasy movie ‘The Prince and His Magical Horse’.

“Stop talking about him, he is so famous now that he forgot all about me completely!” Odette has a disappointed expression on her face.

“It’s just a fling that lasted less than a week during Alice’s shooting!” Johnson laughed like a moron. “Besides, you are the one who just initiated that fling!” he continued laughing.

Alice smiled as well remembering how Odette seems to be in love with Scott, but now she wants to meet Corey.

“Jut remember to be your lovely self when you join me tomorrow. You don’t have to flatter the actors. They are just ordinary people like us” Alice advised her friend.

“Aye, aye captain!” came the reply.

“I will wash the dishes so you can have your beauty rest now and be prepared for the taping tomorrow.” Odette volunteered.

“I will just take a walk in the yard. My stomach is so full.” Johnson went out and got his phone from his pocket. He answered a message before going out of the house.

“Are you going to be okay? I will go back to my room first.” Alice asked.

“No problem, I will be fine on my own.” She answered.

Back in her room, Alice went out of the balcony and she stared at the pair of earrings. She decided to turn on her ‘powers’ to get the reading from it. Looking up at the sky, she focused on the feeling of holding it in the palm of her hands, the vision came suddenly.

She saw a beautiful girl staring at the mirror wearing a pair of earrings that is exactly the same as the pair in her hands, she is a mixed blood Spanish and American. She looks so young but she looks very pregnant as well. It seems that the girl is about to give birth at any time, she can feel her excitement and extreme happiness.

The next thing she saw was the girl holding a child and tying a string to the pair of earrings and putting it on her neck. The child looks frightened while listening to what her mother is saying.

“When I am gone, remember to say a little prayer for me every day. You will sleep here in this box tonight and mom will get you tomorrow after you wake up. Now be a good girl and go to sleep and do not make any noise even if you hear something, do not come out of this box, okay?” She sounded calm but Alice felt her panic inside.

The little girl nodded and closed her eyes after the mother touched her forehead lightly. She instantly fell asleep before her mother closed the lid of the box that was in the basement of a big house. Other boxes in that basement contain the stock of food and clothes.

In the next scene, she saw the girl running out of the house blinded by her tears. She felt truly afraid this time. When she reached the garden in front of her house, she saw her husband, younger brother, her parents, their family driver, the two male servants, and her maid all lying on the ground. Almost all of them are dead.

Japanese soldiers were laughing while stabbing her husband with a long knife attached to a rifle.

“You beasts! You will die!” the girl shouted and pointed her finger at the soldier who is in the act of stabbing her husband. The man instantly had a heart attack and died on the spot. She ran to her husband who is almost dying due to a lot of stab wounds on his body.

“Why…why…did…you...come…out…of…the…house…I…already…told you…to…” Before he finished her sentence, her husband died in her arms.

The Japanese soldier who instantly died was not revived by his comrades so they turned to her in shock. The leader came to her and slapped her hard. “You bitch! How did you do it?” he pointed to his subordinate lying on the ground.

The girl cupped her cheeks which instantly became red with the hard slap. She pointed her finger at the leader and said angrily, “I swear that you will die slowly while vomiting blood! You will feel the pain of being stabbed several times!”

The leader was about to slap her again when he felt a sudden pain in his heart as if it had been stabbed. He began vomiting blood while feeling several pains in other parts of his body. “You…you bitch…” said the leader while slowly falling to the ground.

The girl called out to her parents. “Mama! Papa!” but they did not answer her. The girl stared at the soldiers full of grief and started to point her fingers again but the assistant leader realized that her fingers seemed to have powers so he broke her wrist before she could start pointing her fingers at them again.

“Cut off her tongue and her fingers!” he ordered his subordinates.

The men quickly acted and followed the assistant leader’s order. “Let’s enjoy this beautiful girl before she dies slowly!” he added and began unzipping his pants.

The girl was brutally raped by several men and before she took her last breath she stared at the moon above the sky. ‘Fate is destined to be changed if you will just go back to the past…’ she said in her mind.

Alice clearly heard her thoughts, before the girl died. She blinked several times and stared at the pair of earrings in her hands again. ‘What a tragedy!’ she felt so depressed and sad. Just then, she heard a knock on the door. “Come in!” she said. Johnson came in and sat beside her on the bench on the balcony of her room.

He said, “I feel so distressed.” At this time, Alice had not turned off her ‘powers’ yet so she knew that Johnson was unhappy because Kimmy called him on the phone just a few minutes ago and said straight forward that she wanted to see him again and she hoped that they will be more than friends this time. She will not let go after she finds him again and she liked him a long time ago since the first time that they met two years ago.

She can hear his answer to Kimmy as if he is saying it right now that he already likes another girl. She suddenly felt that she was the girl that Johnson was talking about so she blushed embarrassingly and decided to turn off her ‘powers’ so as not to feel ashamed.

“Kimmy called me earlier and she shamelessly admitted that she likes me very much. She is so straightforward and I felt like a girl being courted by a very persuasive boy.” He complained.

“Just let her be your suitor, who knows, maybe you will eventually begin to like her.” She advised.

“I gave her an honest answer.” He looked at her face for a long time.

“Oh!” she pretended to be surprised but did not say anything more.

“I consider myself so stupid. I gave her our address when she asked for it. She made an excuse of wanting to be friends with you and Odette onset of the call.” Johnson wondered now if she would still dare to visit after saying that they should be just friends.

“You know you are not stupid, you just didn’t know that she would confess her feelings this early.” Alice comforted him.

“What’s with the confession?” Odette suddenly came and heard the last part of what Alice is saying.

“It’s Kimmy!” then Johnson told her everything while she was sitting on the bench.

“I knew it! I can feel it in my bones, the way she looked at you when she saw you at the mall!” she blurted out.

“It’s normal for girls to fall for you, with your looks and character, they will instantly be drawn.” Alice told him. When Johnson heard this, he felt his heart beating erratically.

‘Did it mean that she felt like that as well?’ he asked himself looking at his two friends.

“Yeah! Good thing that we are immune to that charm. For me, you are still the baboon!” Odette laughed so loud.

“Oh really?” Johnson was about to grab her and put her in a headlock.

“Oops! Don’t you dare bully a helpless little girl!” she stood and started retreating.

“I think we need to go back inside, it’s freezing here.” Alice told the two of them.

Odette and Johnson followed in the room. Alice immediately sat on a chair in front of her study table and took out a script that was sent by her manager so she would be prepared for the taping tomorrow. Sometimes, so would practice with her two friends so it is only common that when the manager sent her scripts, it would always be two copies.

Odette and Johnson naturally grabbed the extra script and started reading.  “Didn’t you say that you are going to be Danica Colton in this movie?” Johnson frowned after scanning the pages.

“It seems that there will be romantic scenes here.” Odette smiled excitedly.

“I was given a heads-up by my manager and he said that since he knew that I would be eighteen during the time of the shooting, he accepted the offer. Anyway, it’s just a little hugging and some kissing scenes that look like touching the lips with other lips, not torrid kissing scenes.” Alice said nonchalantly.

Johnson was unhappy when he heard this but Odette is almost jumping up and down excitedly. “Maybe I can audition for a small role in the future, too!” she said.

Alice just touched the script for a few minutes and instantly knew the contents of it.

“I need to go to bed early. I want to be fresh and pretty tomorrow so Corey will not be disappointed.” Odette was really set to lure Corey with her charms.

“Sure, sweet dreams!” Alice said while Odette is getting out of the room.

“I have nothing to do tomorrow, I will just fix the garden so I have time to help you practice with the script.” Johnson said when it is just the two of them left in the room.

“Thank you, let’s practice now so we can rest after.” They started practicing and when it came to the romantic scenes, Alice felt kind of awkward a first. Hugging is okay, and kissing on the cheek is fine but lip kissing is the first time that they would do it since Alice regarded Johnson as her brother.