Dreams Of Fame
1.25 - Escape!
José took a deep breath to steel himself. He stood outside the President’s Mansion, though, in recent years, it was more of an office. The President, Mitch Laurent, never stayed there, he spent most time outside of the office, doing whatever he pleased. Or, that was what the rumors said anyway. José just felt lucky that there was a place the President frequently stayed in Willow Creek. Ever since the world adopted a world leader as an attempt at achieving ultimate peace, the President had a multiple of homes they could stay in, scattered all across the world.
“You’re doing this as a citizen, José, not as a way to get back at Summer,” he muttered to himself. “It’s… it’s what the world needs to know! Just… now that I’m not with Summer, there’s nothing holding me back anymore…”
José sighed, and after another deep breath, he pushed open the door to the visitor’s entrance. President Laurent was apparently famously hard to meet with, as he so rarely showed up to the office to deal with any of the paperwork there. He was also out on excursions, preferring to meet people head on. But José thought it was worth it giving it a shot. What he was doing was important, after all.
As José walked into the waiting room, a brown haired girl looked up. “Welcome to the office of Mitch Laurent…” she muttered in a bored sounding voice.
“Hey,” José said nervously, stepping forward. “May I see the President as soon as possible?”
She cut him off. “No. Mitch’s a very busy man, don’t think for a minute that you’re important.”
“Uh, okay?” José muttered. “Just, uh… let him know that it involves the whole Travis Scott thing his secretary was investigating, and uh- no wait, she wouldn’t remember, uh-“
“Wait, wait, wait!” Zoe Patel said, cutting him off again. “Travis Scott, you say? Well! My name is Zoe, nice to meet you…”
“José, and why-“
“José! Now, listen close. Mitch isn’t here right now, so that’s why I’m here! You’re going to tell me every last juicy detail, and then… then… ugh! We’ll just figure it out as we go, okay? Come on!”
A few hours later, Liberty was in the kitchen, eating lunch, when there was a sudden loud pounding on the front door. Confused, she got up, and opened the door carefully. Beatrice opened it the rest of the way and hurried it into the room.
“Shut the door,” she said firmly.
Liberty nodded, and closed and locked it.
“What’s going on?” Zoe said, drifting out of her bedroom. “Oh, hi Beatrice!”
Travis came downstairs at around the same time. “What’s wrong Beatrice?”
“Fine, get everyone if you want, just hurry, please!”
“Summer’s passed out drunk and Giovanna is with the kids,” Travis said. “This is it.”
“Summer’s passed out?” Liberty asked. “I thought she and José were going good…”
Travis shrugged. “Maybe she just drank too much when she went out with José last night?”
“This isn’t what’s important right now!” Beatrice yelled. “Look!”
She pulled out her phone and opened up a news site. A video started playing. It was shaky and low quality, clearly filmed on a cheap cell phone, but the figure and the building behind him was unmistakable. That was José in front of the the President’s Mansion.
“You came to me saying that you had some important news about famed author Zoe Presley and her family, right?” A familiar voice that made Zoe quake with rage asked.
“I, uh, actually came to see President Laurent, and this is about someone who’s just friends with-“ José stammered.
“José!” the voice hissed. “No one cares, just explain!”
“Well, you see, when Cassandra came and questioned this family, they had an alien by the name of Beatrice Stark come in, and, uh…”
“And do what?”
“I can’t do this, this isn’t right…” José said quietly.
“Oh yes you can do this! It’s your duty as a citizen and it’s a matter of the President’s safety or whatever, José, just explain exactly what happened so they can put that bitch behind bars-! I’m sorry, I mean, do it for President Laurent, the sake of the safety of the world. Yeah!”
“Okay, this definitely isn’t right, I’m leaving.”
The rest of the footage was Patel running after José, begging him to tell her his story. Eventually, she gave up, and turned the camera on herself.
“He's worthless... Anyway, what he should have been willing to tell is that apparently an alien by the name of Beatrice Stark wiped the memory of the personal secretary to the President… while she visiting Zoe Presley's house... that Zoe Presley is suspicious! She's just the worst! Also, just know that it’s Zoe Patel who brought you this important news! The more important of the two Zoe Ps!”
Beatrice turned off her phone and slipped it back into her pocket, then turned back to Liberty, Travis, and Zoe, smiling just because of the ridiculousness of the situation. “Well? What do I do? The whole government is going to come after me, and Zoe, I’ m sure that Patel woman is going to have all sorts of people calling for your blood.”
Zoe looked at her foggily. “Calling… for my blood? But… why…”
Liberty stepped in front of Zoe. “Please don’t antagonize her, we don’t need the other Zoe to come out, claws and all.”
“I know, I know, just, I don’t know what to do! I fled here to escape the government on Sixam, and now I’m going to be the subject of a manhunt here within an hour, all because I decided to help clean up your guys’s mistakes.”
“I’m sorry-“ Travis said gently.
“No, no, no, apologies aren’t going to do it at this point,” Beatrice groaned.
The four of them stood there in silence for a few moments.
Then, Beatrice’s eyes lit up. “You know what, Liberty? You have a space ship. I’d trust the government on Sixam to be more lenient with me then the humans here, who’d definitely experiment if I was found by the wrong people.”
“Beatrice, I have kids-“
“No, Liberty, I fixed your problems in that court room, and I stopped each and every one of you from going to prison for embezzling from the whole ‘world government’ thing you have going on here, this time, you owe me. And now is the time to cash that in.”
Liberty took a deep breath. “Very well. Give me an hour to get ready, and… uh…”
“You can go stay with Jo for now,” Travis suggested. “In case they, er, come knocking, or whatever."
Beatrice nodded. “Good idea. Thank you, Travis.”
Beatrice walked towards the front door, cracked it open, and after taking a long glance around, she bolted across the street to Jo’s.
“Liberty, you can’t,” Travis said. “Clara and Jacob need a mother right now, they’re so young-“
“Ssshhhh Travis. Beatrice is right. She’s done more than enough for our family, and, even despite that, I should help her out in her time of need as a friend. Clara and Jacob will be just fine without me for a while! They have a grandma in Giovanna, and both Zoe and Summer could potentially be motherly figures.”
Travis gave her a doubtful look. “Really? Zoe and Summer?”
“What about me?” Zoe smiled. “Huh… I felt so… mad, just moments ago. Is that why you’re talking? Do you know why?”
Liberty shook her head. “No, Zoe. Why don’t you go upstairs and help Granny out with the kids?”
Zoe nodded, and drifted off.
Liberty turned back to Travis and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back home before you know it.”
Five hours later, Jo and Beatrice watched anxiously through the windows of Jo’s house as police cars pulled up in front of the Presley residence, illuminating the whole building in red and blue lights. At one point, a fancy black car pulled up, and a smug looking Zoe Patel stepped out along with an anxious and exhausted looking José.
“I swear, Liberty had better call and say that stupid space ship is ready soon!” Beatrice said anxiously.
“Don’t stress,” Jo said gently. “I’m sure that everything is going just fine. She just didn't mention the time of launch to avoid further panic. Would you like some more tea?”
Beatrice shook her head. “Three cups in five hours is enough for me, Jo, but thank you.”
Jo nodded.
Just then, Beatrice’s phone started ringing. She gave Jo a look, and Jo smiled. The call was from Liberty. Beatrice didn’t even need to pick up, she knew exactly what that meant.
“Can you do what we discussed now?” Beatrice asked.
“Of course. Good luck, Beatrice,” Jo said.
“To you too.”
Jo walked towards the front door, and threw it open. “What’s all this?” she yelled. “An old woman needs her rest!”
A police officer turned around and started walking towards her. “Our apologies, m’am, but this is an important investigation, it involves the safety of our President.”
Jo ignored him and wandered closer to the house, drawing the attention of the majority of the officers. Beatrice took this opportunity to slip out Jo’s front door and dash down the sidewalk, headed for Liberty’s rocket launch area.
Beatrice ran into the rocket launch, the area completely empty except for Liberty.
“You ready?” Liberty asked.
“Let’s go. We can’t wait any longer.”
Liberty nodded and led the way onto the rocket ship. Within a few minutes, they were launching into the air, a sight that was visible to nearly all of Willow Creek against the night sky. The police at the Presley house knew that could only mean one thing- Beatrice Stark had escaped.