Read Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) for Free Online

seeing the porch
light come on again at the same time.
    “Alright, Mom,” yelled Maria. She opened her
front door and began to enter through it.
    “Wait, what is it that you want us to do?”
asked Jose. Maria stopped halfway in the entrance, and turned
around.
    “Oh, don’t change. I want you to promise me
that you won’t change out there... I heard that California can do a
lot to a guy, especially a friendship.” Jose and Damen smiled
toward her, like they couldn’t believe she’d said that. Finding it
funny and cute of her, yet she still had a point.
    Jose looked at Damen and said, “Don’t worry,
we won’t change at all. We promise you.”
    “Alright, goodnight, and goodbye for now.”
She looked at them staring at her, and wanted to end this moment,
this painful reality, that soon would be a memory, fast and simply.
She wanted to end it so she wouldn’t feel the pain anymore and,
most of all, would win her fight to keep her tears in and hidden
from them. “I guess, keep in touch,” Maria whispered. She went
through the entrance, all the way, and closed the door behind
her.
    Maria’s tears came pouring down her face,
watching Damen and Jose walk off her porch and into the night; she
wanted to go with them. Her tears showed that she wanted so badly
to go with them, but her mind said “no.” She walked upstairs to her
bedroom and looked out of her window, to see if she could spot Jose
and Damen from a distance. Maria looked out into the night, past
the forests and fields, saying to herself, “I just hope you don’t
break that promise...”
    Damen and Jose finally reached Jose’s house.
As Damen shook his hand, he said, “Alright, make sure you wake up
at 5:00 sharp, tomorrow morning.”
    “I will. I’ll see you at the train station,
man.” Jose then walked in his house and left Damen standing in the
night, alone.
    “Hey, Jose,” Damen whispered in a loud tone,
right before he was ready to close his door. Jose turned around and
stared through the night at Damen. The moonlight was the only help
in seeing Damen’s silhouette, his figure. They stared at each
other, not seeing their eyes, but only their shadows, and suddenly
looked around at the scenery. The way the trees shined against the
moonlight, and the way the countryside seemed so intriguing,
allowed them to realize that they were leaving it behind; that this
was the last night they’d see of Ridge Crest. Jose looked at
Damen’s silhouette again and wondered what he wanted.
    “Yeah?”
    “You really think we’ll make it out there ...
you know, in Hollywood?”
    “I don’t think so, I know so. We’re going to
be bigger than any movie star that ever stepped foot in Hollywood,”
Jose answered with a proud smile. Before he walked into his house,
he turned around and asked, “Oh, Damen, I’m all out of cigarettes,
could you bring a carton with you tomorrow?”
    “Yeah, but as soon as we get to California,
you and Darell get some for yourselves.”
    “Alright, thanks, and goodnight...”
    “Goodnight,” said Damen. A smile grew upon
his face before he walked away from Jose’s house: a smile of
hope.
    When Damen reached his house, he walked out
back, to his yard, and sat down on the grass. Staring at the stars
and feeling the warm air blow against his body allowed him to close
his eyes and talk to God. He always talked to God, either in the
Valley, at night, or in his backyard, at dusk, and that caused him
to question his prayers. He wondered if God would hear his prayers
in Hollywood the same way he heard them in the Valley, or in Ridge
Crest. The thought caused him some sadness. So, Damen asked for a
sign—a shooting, bright, bright star in the sky, which would
symbolize God being with him at every moment, wherever Damen might
roam. But, he couldn’t ask for a normal shooting star, only because
shooting stars were very common, so it had to be a grand sign: a
sign that only he would see. Yet, no sign came to him that night,
so