Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) Read online

  To their subconscious, it was called Dream Valley. This was more than just an indentation in the land, the earth: it was heaven, a paradise that was alive to their sight. It was a place that was about ten blocks away from their town; so it was close to walk to, but yet far for anyone else to even try attempting to reach, if they didn’t know of its existence. That place was sacred to them, it was their secret; the reason why they went was a secret. In the stones of the Valley held the echoes of their deepest secrets, fears, visions, passions, cravings, and most of all, their single ambition.

  They would go to the Valley every day after school with a fishing pole and bait in one hand, and a script from one of their favorite plays in the other. The secret of their ambition was kept within the stones, lake, and trees of the Valley for one reason, other than their town, and one reason only: their parents.

  Jose Rodrigo’s father wanted him to become a fisherman like himself. He was the type of person that would beat Jose bloody if he ever said, “Dad, I don’t want to fish today.” You could say his father was somewhat pushy when it came to what he thought was best for Jose’s future. He knew if his father ever found out about his true ambition, he would definitely beat him till his teeth fell out. Jose feared him.

  His mother was a type of woman that would stay quiet at times when Jose would have his face kicked in by his father. After he was beaten, she would say, “Your father just had a little too much to drink. Besides ... you’ll thank him later for doing this.”

  Darell O’Conner’s father wanted him to be a painter like himself, also. He was the type of father that ignored Darell altogether. He was the sort of dad that just wanted to see his son become something that he was; the normal cliché that a dad follows. Darell, somewhat, also feared him as well.

  His mother was a person who would always look out for Darell. But, when it came to actually listening to him and playing the role of a real mother, she would ignore him like his father did. Yet, his parents were a little bit more understanding when it came to pushing him over the edge in being something he didn’t want to be.

  Darell’s father would always tell him, “Boy, you better start painting barns or something soon, because we need the extra money to take care of your sorry butt.” His mother would always tell him, before he went to bed, “Darell, you can be whatever you want to be, so please listen to your father and take on the trait of painting. We do need a little help with money these days.” Through the subliminal care they showed him, he feared them as well, fearing their kindness.

  Darell had an older sister. She was the one who pushed his ambition to a positive level. Even though his older sister, Mary, didn’t know what Darell wanted to become in the future, she would always say, “Darell, you don’t have to be a painter like Dad, just become whatever you want to be.” Yet, that was just it, Darell didn’t even know himself what he wanted to be in the future. He just went along with Damen and Jose’s dream, to fit in with their friendships, to belong. You could say he was somewhat of a follower.

  Damen Schultz’s father and mother were farmers, very wealthy farmers to be exact. They had 1,500 acres of corn that his dad plowed on his own. His father wanted him to be a farmer so much, he would wake him up every morning at 5:00 and take him out in the cornfield to plow. But, his dad was also a little bit pushy toward his future, like Jose’s. Every night before he went to bed, his father would say, “Damen, if I didn’t have you to help me and your mother with this farm, I don’t know what we would do. Your mother and I are so proud that you want to be a farmer.” But, you see, he never asked him if he wanted to be one, he just assumed. Damen knew if his father ever found out that he wanted to be an actor, he would definitely take his shotgun out, that he hunted for ducks with, and shoot him in the head, until he knocked his acting ambition out of it.

  Or else, to be more realistic, he would ignore Damen altogether until he said, “Okay, Father, I want to be a farmer like you.” The phrase here was “pleasing his dad.”

  Damen had an older brother who was a farmer like his father. His brother was the one who helped push his ambition to a positive level, just like Darell’s sister. Although his brother, Greg, didn’t know what Damen wanted to become, he would always tell him, “Damen, don’t listen to Mom and Dad, you just become whatever you want to become. Don’t end up like me...”

  All of their parents assumed they were going to the Valley to fish; even though the Valley’s secret was kept from the whole town, their parents still knew of it. Fishing was on the grown-ups’ minds, but in actuality, the boys were going there to practice: practice for what they were going to become.

  Each boy would be a certain character from a script, and they would be that character for the day, seeing what that character sees and feeling what that character ought to feel. All of them would spend four, five, even six hours down in the Valley practicing and never fishing, playing around with their different scripts and having imaginational fun, just as every child should feel.

  The boys would bring a fourth person by the name of Maria down there also. She was the person who would catch the fish for them so that they wouldn’t return home empty handed. They trusted Maria a lot with their secret ambition, like she was one of the guys. She was the type of person that loved tagging along with them—being with them every second of the day was what she craved. You might say she loved the entertainment brought on in the Valley. Maria was their fisherman, their audience and their friend; she was the reflection of hope to them.

  Darell would sometimes fish with her, and Jose and Damen always wondered why he would fish, instead of practicing different scripts. Jose didn’t think for a second that Darell did not want to be an actor, but Damen did. You could say that Damen was the smart guy of the group, knowing that Darell didn’t know himself what he wanted to be.

  These young men were spirited and happy lads, living a normal life in a town of right and good, where life was simple but unique at the same time. They were happy because of their ambition, their longings for the future. Even little Maria was happy, though she knew they were only using her for fishing. Maria would look up to them all the time and say, “You guys are going to make it big someday in Hollywood, could I have your autographs?” These types of friends come few and far between in a lifetime; a lifetime that was full of trust and care. They were inseparable—at least, that’s what they thought.

  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 tha
t 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.