Dreams Of Fame
1.22 - Cleaning Up
“Zoe!” Jo gasped.
“I’ve been threatened,” Zoe said firmly. “My home and my livelihood have been threatened.”
José hesitantly raised a hand. “Should I leave? I feel like I should leave, I don’t understand what’s happening-“
“No one is leaving this house until we fix this!” Zoe bellowed.
José seemed to shrink in size as he retreated to Summer’s side.
Everyone in the house stood in silence for a couple of moments, the only noise in the room being Zoe’s heavy breathing.
“Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do,” Zoe said, beginning to pace. “Liberty, you fetch Beatrice. Travis, I don’t care about your work, wipe your computers hard drive and get rid of it, cause we’re keeping the money this time. I’ll move Cassandra and her bodyguard into another room. Jo… go across the street and call the police, pretend to be a panicked neighbor or something so they’re under the impression those two are busy working. Granny, keep yourself occupied. Summer… clean up the alcohol you’ve left all over the house, please, it’s disgusting. And you, Summer’s friend, whatever your name is, just… keep quiet.”
Everyone stood transfixed.
“Well? What are we waiting for?” Zoe yelled. “Let’s go!”
Everyone was too terrified to argue with her, and slowly drifted off in various directions.
Travis stumbled over to his computer and moved the mouse to open it. The computer opened up to an article titled “A Hospital Killer? The Mysterious Case of Hayley Baxter”. Travis sighed and shook his head. That’d be an article he’d never end up finishing. He sadly clicked over to the system settings, and went through a series of options that eventually led to a system wipe. He sat back and watched as all of his files and work was destroyed. If only he wasn’t so weak-willed… Zoe always got to him, and he kept on doing things he didn’t want to do. It was just like his moms had told him when he’d accepted Summer’s offer to buy a house together; Travis, just like his moms, had a hard time standing up to an intimidating woman. And that was something that needed to change.
As Travis stared at his computer, Liberty walked down the stairs, passing by Giovanna, who was occupying herself by opening and closing the microwave. “Guess I’ve got to go and fetch Beatrice again,” Liberty said to Travis, stopping by his computer to give him a quick kiss. “How’s that going?”
“Kind of devastating, to be honest,” Travis sighed, slowly pushing back his chair and getting up from his computer. “I have photos on here, ranging from my moms’ wedding to the first day in this house. They’re all going to be gone now.”
Liberty shook her head. “I’m sure that some of us have photos very similar to the ones you’re loosing, I’ll help you track any you need down.”
Travis smiled his thanks, but didn’t respond directly. “And I don’t even know how I’m going to explain that I’ve lost my log in and everything related to work, especially because my boss is basically indirectly Cassandra.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Liberty reassured him. “See you soon, Travis.”
Liberty gave him one last peck, then headed out the door.
Meanwhile, Jo sat in her bedroom, staring at her phone. She didn’t like Zoe. She owed Zoe nothing, the woman had probably done nothing to benefit anyone but herself in her entire life. And yet, here Jo sat, considering helping her out by phoning the police as a panicked old woman wondering why someone who was clearly as important as Cassandra Goth had entered her neighbor’s house. If her boss, the president, didn’t like she was here, he’d probably send someone to pick Cassandra up. As much as she didn’t like it, or her, Zoe’s plan made sense.
She put her hand on her head and thought. Maybe, if she wasn’t doing this for Zoe, she was doing it for Liberty and Travis. They’d been nothing but good to her and Giovanna, and if Zoe went down for this, Travis definitely would be too. And that sweet boy didn’t deserve that, he’d already spent much of his life suffering through Summer, and now Zoe. The last thing he deserved was jail time.
Jo sighed, and carefully punched in the numbers of the local law enforcement.
“Hello? Yes, my name is Jo Kauffman, and I’m phoning in because I saw Cassandra Goth walk into my neighbor’s house… Isn’t she someone important? I just wanted to know why she was here… Where do I live? Well…”
A few minutes later, Jo was able to put her phone away, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
For better or worse, she’d done the deed. Law enforcement knew Cassandra was somewhere she shouldn’t be. Hopefully, the Presley family would have enough time to sort everything else out before a team arrived to take Cassandra back to work. But she’d done her part, as distasteful as it was.
Exhausted by the day’s events, Jo let out a deep sigh and slid down in bed until she was lying down completely. She was more than ready for a nap.
José followed Summer around the house as she picked up glasses and mopped up spills that’d probably been there for ages.
“Summer…” José sighed. “I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know it was this bad.”
“Look, José,” Summer snapped. “I have a problem, okay? A problem years in the making and it isn’t going away anytime soon, I thought you’d understand that.”
José put his hands up defensively. “Woah, Summer.”
Summer closed her eyes and sighed. She put the pile down on a nearby table, and turned back to José. “I’m… I’m sorry for coming at you like that, José. I just… I’ve gotten used to being so mean and defensive in this house, it’s my first instinct. But I shouldn’t be making excuses, so please, come at me with everything you’ve got in return.”
José shook his head. “No Summer.”
“Why not, José? I’m awful to you and everyone else around me, I deserve it.”
“I believe in peace. Hurting you, either physically or vocally, would do nothing to help this situation. This guilt, you apologizing and revealing your heart to me? That’s what’s going to heal you. Not more abuse.”
Tears filled Summer’s eyes, and she rushed to embrace him. “Thank you, José!”
Zoe looked at Cassandra and the body guard, who she’d lugged into her bedroom. She had half a thought to take a marker and doodle on their face, but she ultimately rejected the idea. She’d already knocked out the president with one of her heavier books, she didn’t need to escalate the situation by drawing a dick on her face.
The fog in her mind started to close in as she watched the two, but Zoe shook it off. The last thing she needed was to become the weak, sweet Zoe Summer had worked to turn her into. This was a critical situation, and she needed the intellect she didn’t have when she was nice. Zoe was looking for a way to reverse what Melody had done, but every time she got close, nice Zoe took over again, and Zoe lost her opportunity. In a sense, nice Zoe was like Giovanna after the basement. Merely a shadow of her former self. And Zoe hated it.
Liberty hopped off the bus at Beatrice’s house, and pounded on the door.
It took a few moments for Beatrice to approach. After opening the door and seeing Liberty, she let out a deep sigh. “I’m guessing cause you showed up here, you guys need my help again, don’t you?”
Liberty nodded slowly. “I’m sorry about always doing this to you.”
Beatrice shook her head. “No, no, I don’t mind. Adds some interest to my life. Just let me go in and put on something warmer. You humans get cold so easily.”
Liberty stood outside, arms crossed against the cold, as she waited for Beatrice to emerge from her house. After a couple of minutes, she finally did, telling Liberty that she'd put on something warmer under her jacket.
“Alright, let’s go. I’ll explain the situation to you on the bus,” Liberty told Beatrice, leading the way to the bus stop.
“Granny,” Zoe said, walking out of her bedroom. “Could you take care of our guests?”
“I would love that!” Giovanna squealed, jumping up from the microwave and hurrying past Zoe into her bedroom.
Zoe sighed, and shut the door after Giovanna. Then, after thinking for a moment, she opened up the door again and headed inside.
“Granny- No, Giovanna, I feel like I should speak to you while I’m clear of mind. I… I know that you’re not, I’m pretty sure you never will be again, but I fear that I may one day end up just like you, so I need to speak before it’s too late.”
Giovanna smiled at her vaguely, clearly not fully processing what Zoe was saying.
Zoe grimaced. “I… I just want to truly apologize. I’m not sure what was going through my head on the day I threw you in my basement and locked you up. Rage, maybe. I wrote a book about my struggles with it once, but that was never published… Uh, anyway. I’ve been cruel to many in my life, but you’re the one who’s suffered the most because of it. Sure, you had an unusual past, but I don’t think you’d ever have harmed a fly. You stayed pure through all of your suffering, and that’s what you still manage to be today. As someone who’s… not that… I truly admire that, and wish I hadn’t been so success driven, and could have done more for you when you were still in your right mind.”
Giovanna continued to smile.
“Don’t get me wrong, I am still very success driven, I mean, look at what’s happening today! But, I never want to see anyone loose their mind because of my own ambition again. I’m not about to lock Travis in a basement if he refuses to hack into the government again. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m still awful, but I’m going to try hard not to be as awful as I was to you. My biggest regret in life is your current condition, Giovanna. I hope that somewhere inside, you understand that.”
Zoe smiled at Giovanna, then quickly left the room before she could see the tears on her cheeks.
Liberty and Beatrice climbed off the bus and walked the distance from the bus stop to the house together. “Okay, so your plan is that I’ll modify their memories of this event, right?”
Liberty nodded. “Exactly. Zoe may have sent me out to fetch you, but she didn’t really specify what she wanted you to do.”
“I still can’t believe that everyone in that house knows what I am now,” Beatrice laughed nervously.
“Come on, it was bound to come out after the fiasco at that court case. And anyway, you know how private we all are. We don’t talk to anyone outside of you, Jo, and occasionally Travis’s moms. No one’s going to find out.”
“Didn’t you say Summer has a new boy toy?”
“Well… yeah. I guess Summer’s the wildcard here. Calling him a boy toy was probably to much of an assumption, to be honest… she hasn’t done anything like that since she moved in with Travis and I, and none of us are close enough with her to ask what she really wants this relationship to be.”
“Okay,” Beatrice nodded. “I just need to make sure my bases are covered.”
Liberty pushed open the front door, and walked in to Summer and José seated at the dining room table.
“You must be Beatrice,” José said, rising up from the table with a smile. “Pleased to meet you, I’m José.”
“Good to meet you too?” Beatrice said awkwardly, taking his hand.
“I am so sorry,” José apologized. “This must look so odd, me just knowing your name like this… Zoe told Liberty to go and fetch a Beatrice, so I just thought that you must be her… You are, right?”
“Oh, yes,” Beatrice laughed, relieved that he didn’t know her secret.
“Since we’re on the subject of trust and shit, José, Beatrice there is our resident alien friend,” Summer drawled.
“Summer!” Liberty shouted, storming across the kitchen. “How dare you, you know better than to expose Beatrice to someone who is more or less a total stranger!”
“José isn’t a stranger, Liberty,” Summer laughed. “We’ve been texting for a whole week.”
“A whole week? Summer…” Liberty sighed. “José, I don’t know you, so I mean nothing by this, but Beatrice, please feel free to erase his memory of this event.”
José spoke quickly. “I understand that I, uh… wasn’t supposed to know this. If it makes you feel better, Beatrice, please, go ahead.”
Beatrice thought for a moment before speaking. “I usually would… but José, I sense that you’re a genuine person. I believe that you won’t tell anyone.”
José smiled. “No, I don’t want to betray you, or Summer. Thank you for trusting me, Beatrice.”
The conversation was cut short by a sudden pounding on Zoe’s door. “As the personal secretary of the President, I demand that you open this door right away!”
Beatrice and Liberty shared a look. They crept over to the door, and Liberty carefully unlocked it, and turned the knob. Cassandra stood there fuming, her bodyguard luckily still passed out behind her. Beatrice placed her fingers on her temples, and all the lights in the house dimmed as she blasted Cassandra with a powerful ray of energy. Cassandra fell right back over, knocking the door back open.
José’s eyes widened as he watched events unfold. He’d expected… well, something, knowing that Beatrice was an alien, but nothing that resembled this.
The lights dimmed again as Beatrice entered the room and did the same thing to Cassandra’s bodyguard, then she emerged from the room, looking visibly drained. “I recommend moving them outside before they wake,” she gasped. “They’ll remember taking care of the situation here vaguely, it should be enough to convince them not to visit again. It just might seem a little odd if they wake up on Zoe’s bedroom floor…”
“Of course, we’ll do that. Thank you Beatrice,” Liberty said, hugging her.
“It’s the least I could do after all you’ve done for me,” Beatrice smiled.
Summer looked at José’s conflicted face. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah…” José said slowly. “This is just a lot to take in… Beatrice is an alien, and Cassandra’s literally the secretary to the President, which sounds pretty important… and now, she has what’s more or less fake memories. This is just so… new."