Bad Writing

Ovia Afternoon Encarnacion:

"What is this place," Emica asks with her face pressing right against the limo's window. "What are those? What's that? Who is that?"

"This is Golden Star Studio," I whisper, leaning in close to Emica. "It's where films, movies, and t.v. shows are made. Those are cameras. They're used for recording the actors and actresses. That's a trailer. It's where the same actors and actresses go when they're on break."

"Amazing," Emica says with wide, sparking eyes. "But wait. You didn't answer that is over there."

Emica points to a young man with short hair and a green T-shirt.

"Yeah, I have no idea who that is."

Despite not knowing who the young man is, Emica and I still wave at him as we pass him.

My driver stops in front of a large studio building with people coming in and out of it. He rushes out and opens the door for Freddy and me. I don't even put my foot on the ground before someone in a white suit runs up to the three of us.

"Mr. Thomas Benjamin," the man shouts as he grabs and shakes Freddy's hand. The man, a large elderly man with a grey mustache and a shining bald man then turns to me. About to grab me, my driver turns into my bodyguard and pushes the man back. Looking ready to punch the elderly man, Freddy runs and gets in front of him.

"Easy," Freddy says, holding out his hands. "I know this guy. He's...alright."

My driver/bodyguard looking at Freddy, calms down. He lowers his hand and steps back.

"You should be lucky I'm so busy right now," the elderly man says, adjusting his suit as he steps forward again. "Otherwise, you, me, and my lawyer would be having a long talk."

The elderly man's frown turns upside down as he steps forward again. Taking my hands, he not only shakes it. He crushes it.

"And you," he says, "Oh yes. I know you very well, Ms. Famous, Teen Model, voted one of the most beautiful teen models eight years in a row."

I smile as I fight through the pain that comes with a broken hand.

"Smiling," I tell myself. "Keep smiling."

"Even I can feel that," Emica says, patting my shoulder.

"Ms. Ovia Afternoon Encarnacion," the man goes on, pulling back his hand. The second he does, I hide my hand behind my back and make sure I can still move my fingers.

"Noon," Freddy starts. "Noon's uh...driver and bodyguard. This is Gunner."

"Mac Gunner," Mac Gunner says, taking over. "I'm one of the producers for your brand new movies, and already, just from looking at the two of you, I can tell this movie will be big. Big I tell you. Big! So big, the banks in Boston won't be able to hold all the money from the ticket sales alone!"

Gunner laughs as he turns around and walks into the building.

"Uhh," I say, looking at him and then at Freddy. "Are we supposed to follow him?"

"Yeah," Freddy says with a nod. "Come on."

With Freddy leading the way, Emica, my personal driver, and I all follow after Gunner.

"So Freddy," I say, walking beside my apparent co-star. "You've been doing this for a while now."

"Yeah," Freddy answers. "I've been acting since I was around six or seven."

"Funny. That's almost as long as I've been modeling."

"Am I right in guessing you didn't have a lot whole of childhood playtime?"

"Yes, and since you started it, am I right in guessing you didn't have a whole lot of childhood friends?"

"Yup," Freddy says quietly. "I was homeschooled since I started acting so I haven't had a whole lot of chance to meet other kids."

"I know how you feel. I was also homeschooled until a few months ago. It took a long while but I finally convinced my mother to let me go to a public school."

"I'm jealous," Freddy laughs. "You made some friends?"

"A few."

"Now I'm really jealous. Oh, wait, everyone, hold on."

Freddy shoots out his hands and stops the three of us. He points at Gunner as he's yelling at someone.

"I told you," Gunner shouts, grabbing a pile of papers from a young man and then shoving them back into the same young boy's chest. "No! No! No! No, and when I said no, I mean no!"

"But Mr. Gunner," the young boy says. "I'm telling you. This scene is brilliant. It will work in the movie."

"No, it will not," Gunner shouts, throwing his arms into the air. "We have been through this before, and I am tired of repeating myself!"

He takes the papers from the boy's chest and throws them to the floor, the papers scattering all over. With this, Gunner walks away.

"And speaking of tired, where the heck is that other boy! We need him now!"

Gunner goes on and on, something about another boy, but honestly, I don't care.

"Hey," Freddy says, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," they boy answers after coughing and clearing his throat. While Freddy talks to the boy, I help gather all the scattered papers. Taking a look at them, I see what I think is a script for the movie. I try to read them but Gunner stops me.

"Hey, hey, hey," Gunner says, running to us as we help the boy. "Come on, you two. I don't want to be rude, but there are people dying to meet you. Come on. Chop, chop!"

Gunner claps his hands before pushing Freddy and me. However, I break away from Gunner and give the boy the papers I've picked up.

"Sorry," I say, handing them over.

"It's fine," the boy whispers. "Just go."

I nod before running back to Gunner and Freddy.

Don' Yokuna Yokubo:

I open my eyes and stare out the window as it opens.

"Yes," I say, looking out. "Yes! I sense the birth of a dark spirit. I sense your humiliation and your spite at your work being thrown out. It is powerful. I can sense your desire for vengeance. I can sense it all coming together to form a dakura tchingu.

As the boy's desire grows stronger and stronger, I slam my staff down and cast a shadow. My dakura tchingu shoots out from my staff and out the window, toward its new hosuto.

Intern Scriptwriter:

Gathering the last of my scripts, I stomp my foot, kick the air, and shake my head.

"I can't believe he didn't allow the scene," I think. "Why wouldn't he allow it? There was no cliche! It was all new! It could have been huge! No! Instead, he wants to use cliche! Stupid, stupid cliches!"

Kicking the air again, I head back to the writer's room. Entering the hallway, I can't help but get the feeling something is coming toward me. Turning around, I jump when I see a shadow on the floor running toward me. I don't even have time to run or scream before the shadow jumps onto me. Suddenly, I find myself in a dark void, floating in mid-air.

"Hello," a strange voice echoes.

"Wh-Who are you," I yell, looking around. "What is this place? Where am I?"

"Who I am is not important, nor what this place is. What is important is your work. It's such a shame that man threw it away."

Hearing this, I feel my blood boiling. I close my hands and slam them down.

"I can grant you power," the voice goes on. "Magical power that will make your work come to life. Literally."

I feel a smile growing across my face. I look down at my script, still in my hands.

"Your work will come to life, and then, when people see it, they will know you as a brilliant writer. But know this power is not free. All I ask in return for this power are two trinkets. Do you accept?"

"Yes," I shout, "Yes! I accept! Give me power!"

I raise my script into the air as black smoke comes off the wall and surrounds me. It spins around me and I feel myself start to change.

"Then with my magic, I grant you new life! Be born, Jaakuna Sakka (Evil Writer)!"

Thomas "Freddy" Benjamin III:

"Granola bar," I ask, offering Noon and her driver/ bodyguard each a granola bar.

The driver/bodyguard smiles as he takes the granola bar and eats it.

"Wow," I laugh as he shoves the whole granola bar into his mouth and swallows it. "That was awesome. Were you a competitive eater before you became a driver?"

"No," Noon says, also with a laugh. "But while he may not have a past as a competitive eater, I do think he had a future as one."

Once more, we both laugh as we watch the big guy lick his mouth.

"Thanks but no thanks. I think my driver is still hungry."

I shrug my shoulders and give the extra granola bar to Noon's driver. We watch and laugh as we see him devour the whole thing in less than a second.

"There are some more snacks over there if you're still hungry."

I point behind me to a snack table covered from end to end with fruits, some baked snacks, and lemon water.

The driver/bodyguard looks hungry but before he goes, he turns and looks at Noon.

"You can go," Noon says with a smile. "I'll be fine."

The driver/bodyguard nods before leaving Noon to bite down on a mini cinnamon bun.

"Where is Gunner," Noon asks, looking right and left. "He had been gone for a while."

"I know. He said he only needed to have a short talk with the design crew."

"Design crew," Noon repeats. "Design for what exactly?"

"You know, background and settings, costumes. All that stuff."

"No. No, I didn't know. As I've told my mom, I've only starred in a few commercials. I've never done anything this big. I mean, from modeling to acting is kind of a big leap."

Noon's face screams worry. She's shaking. She's also sweating, but I think that's mostly because it's a little warm in here.

"Hey," I say, putting my hand on Noon's shoulder. "Listen to me, okay? I've been doing this for years, and if there is one thing I can tell you from all these years, it's this. You don't see the cameras."

"What," Noon says, pulling her head back.

"You don't see the cameras," I repeat. "Forget there are cameras there. Forget about the cameras and the microphones and everything else and be yourself. That's the ultimate secret to acting right there. Take it from me, Thomas Freddy Benjamin III."

I inhale to puff up my chest and put my hands on my hips.

"Thanks for telling me the ultimate secret to acting," Noon says.

"Don't mention it," I reply. I pose for a few more seconds but stop when I hear screaming and crashing.

"What was that," I ask. Turning around, I see a door burst open and Mr. Gunner running. Looking out of breath, Mr. Gunner stops running and rests his hands on his knees. He does this for only a few seconds before running again.

"Out of my way," he shouts, pushing Noon's driver/bodyguard to the side. "Out of my way! He's coming! He's coming!"

"Who," I ask.

Mr. Gunner doesn't answer me. My only answer comes when something shoots out of the door and wraps around Mr. Gunner's foot. It pulls Mr. Gunner and knocks him down. He screams and tries to pull whatever it is off but can't.

"What is that," I say, stepping back. "Is that, is that paper?"

"Paper can't do that," Noon shouts.

Still looking at the paper as it wrapped itself around both of Mr. Gunner's feet, we all hear footsteps and look at the door. We see a young man with a white-painted face and black eyes there. He's wearing a red robe and black hat, both looking like they're from ancient Chinese. In front of the young man is a floating wooden desk with a stack of papers, an ink bottle, and a feather pen.

"A dakura tchingu," Noon says, getting up.

"A dakura tchingu," I repeat, looking at the young man. "I heard of these. They're people that have been turned into magical monsters! Come on!"

Not wasting a second, I grab Noon's hand and pull her. We then run for a door as fast as we can.

"Hold on," the dakura tchingu shouts. He takes the feather pen and after dipping it into the ink bottle, begins to write something.

"A large paper guardian appears in front of Thomas Benjamin III and Ovia Afternoon Encarnacion, blocking their exit."

As he talks and writes, paper shoots off the desk and into the air. It transforms into a large paper man before landing in front of us.

"Watch out," Noon screams, grabbing and pulling me back. Falling onto my butt but out of the way of the giant paper man, I look at Noon.

"Thanks," I say.

"No problem," Noon replies.

"Yes problem," I say as the paper guardian reaches out its massive hand. The paper man is about to grab us but, Noon's bodyguard jumps out and onto the hand. He pushes it down and waves his arms.

"Go, go, go," Noon yells. She pushes herself up and drags me along as we run past the paper guardian as he throws the bodyguards back.

"After them," the dakura tchingu orders, "They're important to my story!"

With the bodyguard down, the paper guardian chases us. It throws and slams its way through the building as it tries to reach out and grab us. Taking a sharp turn, we hide behind a fake wall, As we're hiding, I see a closet nearby.

"In there," I whisper. "We can hide in there until help arrives."

"Yeah," Noon says.

Tip-toeing as fast as we can, I open the door as quietly as possible. However, something happens and I fall. Falling into the closet, the door then slams shut.

"Noon," I whisper. "Noon! What happened?"

"I don't know," Noon answers, "But the door! It's stuck! I can't open it."

The doorknob shakes as Noon and I try to open it but can't.