“Jesus
Christ, Heather! Where are my eye drops? You know that’s one of the most
important things, and yet they are nowhere to be found! Why do I even employ
you?”
Melody was in her usual pre-show tantrum mode, and if she seemed cruel to those around her, she was far worse to her assistant and older sister, Heather.
“Melody, calm down,” Heather replied as she handed Melody the small vial of eyedrops.
“They're right here. You know I wouldn't forget them.”
It had become Melody’s schtick to go out with tears in her eyes. Most of her fans were onto the fact she was a high-strung pop diva. But then there were the loyal ones who ignored her insane temper and loved her with blind devotion, like some odd cult. And here Heather was, along for the ride, working as her little sister's assistant. And Melody loved to remind Heather just how fortunate she was to have this job. After her tirade in the dressing room it was time to take the stage, where all of her backstage antics were forgiven. For as long as the house was sold out and the people were happy, everyone overlooked her spoiled brat moods.
After the show, it was seldom any better.
“Miss Fulton, we really think you need to wait a little longer before you try to leave,” her head of security told her.
“And why should we wait? My limo is ready and so am I. This place has the charm of a utility closet, so I want to leave now!”
“I understand that, Miss Fulton, but there are a ton of people waiting at that back entrance and it could be dangerous to leave right now.”
“My fans love me as I love them. We are leaving and may I remind you, it’s you who works for me, not the other way around. It’s your job to keep me safe, and if you can't do that, maybe I should fire your ass and find somebody better suited for the job, understand?”
The head of security just glanced at Heather. You could see the veins in his neck tighten as it took all his strength to refrain from telling his client to go fuck herself. Heather stood silent, glad for a change. Her little sister's wrath was not directed at her.
The scene outside was total madness as the mix of security and local police tried to hold back the crowd of screaming young girls and older housewives, the latter of which seemed a bit pathetic to be enamored with an overproduced pop princess.
“Melody, just get in the damn limo! These people are insane!”
“Oh, calm the hell down, Heather,” Melody replied as she posed for pictures. “They love me, and if not for them you wouldn't have a job.”
The crowd grew even more ravenous to simply touch their idol. It became a sea of hands, all pushing, pulling, and trying to rip at what they desired. The sheer mass of people became too much to hold back as the fans broke the barrier and this flood of insane people knocked Heather down.
Nothing stood a chance of standing between them and Melody.
Heather slammed to the pavement as she felt people running over her. Her hand surged with pain as she felt the bones break. The noise was an unending void and she struggled to breathe as slowly everything faded to black.
***
Heather awoke in the hospital alone. It was peaceful. The pain was the only reminder of the hell she had endured. Heather tried to get up but the pain in her ribs shot through her body as she slumped back down. The nurse was in the room shortly.
“Miss Fulton, you need to try to relax. Your body has been through a hell of a trauma.”
And as the nurse tried to calm her the doctor soon joined them. It seemed in that swarm of people Heather had suffered a ton of injuries, from broken ribs and her nose, to her hand, which had multiple fractures. The pain was tremendous but she would live.
Heather was about to ask about her sister when Melody entered the room with a cameraman in tow. “Heather, I was so worried about you!” her little sister said as she threw herself upon Heather, causing pain to yet again surge through her body.
“Miss Fulton, please be careful. Your sister has endured enough pain as it is.”
“You’re right. Pardon my overzealous nature, I was just so worried about my big sister.” Melody stood up, and although she normally would have cut the woman in half, she was in acting mode. “Heather, don't you worry about a thing. We are going to sue that venue owners ass off for their lax security, and I fired Thomas. This was as much on him as well.”
Heather struggled to talk. “But he tried to warn you.”
Melody put her hand to her sister's lips. “Shh, don't stress yourself, Sissy.” Then Melody looked at the doctor and nurse standing in the room. “Please, do you mind leaving us alone? I just need to be with my family right now.”
They all obliged Melody's request, and no sooner than everyone had left, the mask was off.
“I swear, if you weren't in such pain I would slap the living hell out of you! Don't you know this is all over the news right now? We can really look to make a ton of money, so keep your mouth shut. I swear, if only those idiots had broken your jaw, then this would be so much easier.”
Heather marveled at what her little sister had become. She was a monster obsessed with money and power; everything was an act, from her overproduced music to her bullshit relationships she used to make her newest singles. She used everything as a means to keep herself in the spotlight. She was truly a marketing machine. And her sister's near death experience was no different. No wonder she had to buy artificial tears by the damn gallons. She was void of all true humanity, unless it involved getting her face plastered on television.
Heather knew her wounds would heal, but the distance between herself and the woman she once called family was dead on all fronts.
***
It was a few months later when Heather was finally fully recovered…and here she was, back out on the road, working for the tyrant that was Melody Fulton. Nothing had changed, and the abuse seemed only to increase as Heather had gained attention from the incident. Which only seemed to enrage her kid sister. There was no satisfying her ego. There was always something wrong with every arena, from the sound to catering.
If Melody wasn’t bitching, then Melody wasn't breathing.
And as Heather sat there in her dressing room with her sister, Melody always made sure to sink her fangs in deeper just before her performance.
“So what do I have to do tomorrow?”
“Well, at twelve we have to be at the children's hospital. We will be there for an hour, then you have an interview with TMZ scheduled back at the hotel.”
“God, I hate the kids' hospitals the worst. Please tell me it's not another burn victim. Remember that last little brat? The fucker looked like hamburger helper. So fucking gross!”
“He died a week later, Melody! For fucks sake, what is wrong with you?”
“Calm down, Mother Teresa. I know you love kids and all, being you can’t have them. God, it must suck being I can, and if I did, I would probably drown them instead. I swear, I got the talent, the looks, and, well, you're like my older, inadequate shadow. It must really suck being you.”
Melody smiled that disgusting smile of hers that was yet another fuck you to her older sister.
“You know, I dropped out of medical school to help you, you ungrateful bitch!”
“Oh, yeah…that's right. You did, didn't you? I mean, it’s not like you don’t get paid to do a job a trained monkey can do. Yet, you continually fuck up, anyways. I mean, you probably would have made a great doctor. Of course, who knows? I mean, after that whole drug charge in Canada.”
Heather had finally had enough of her spoiled brat sister. She stood up, ready to beat the living shit out of her.
“I took a rap for you, you coked-out little whore!”
But then there was a knock at the door. “Miss Fulton,” a voice called, “it’s time to head to the stage.”
“Well, Sis…looks like we have to continue this discussion later, because one of us has to work for a living. Now grab my eyedrops and follow the leader, little doggie.”
Melody pushed past Heather with force, and it was all Heather could do to resist the urge to start ripping her sister’s hair out.
Heather tried to compose herself before joining Melody at the chute.
“Fuck, bitch!” Melody snapped as they introduced her and the fans erupted in screams calling for the false princess. “What, you get lost or something?”
Melody was about to step through the curtain when Heather grabbed her by the arm.
“Don’t forget your eye drops, Sister.”
Melody looked at Heather oddly. “Well, thanks, Sissy. Maybe I won’t fire your ever-expanding ass after all…”
Melody took the eyedropper without question, paying no attention to Heather’s grin as she applied the liquid. The crowd was deafening, so nobody but Heather heard Melody’s screams as the acid made contact with her eye.
“Don’t keep your precious fans waiting sweetheart!” Heather said as she pushed her sister through the curtain. Writhing in pain, Melody staggered across the stage and collapsed into the waiting arms of her rabid fans.
And those rabid fans began to rip and tear at what they adored most, all of them wanting a piece of their flawed idol.
It took security what seemed like forever to pull Melody from the crowd. And as she emerged, the once angelic face now truly resembled her decayed personality. Mangled, bloody, and a true vision of the nightmare she had turned her older sister's life into.
Soon, the fans would all leave and Heather truly would be out of a job. But, sometimes, freedom comes at a hell of a price. And when it comes to the world of plastic pop idols, the beat goes on…
Or so they say.
His work is always unfiltered.
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