Superstar

Spokane Arena1

Spokane, Washington2

May 2, 20083

7:35 PM Pacific Standard Time4

In the Spokane Arena, nearly eight thousand overly-sugared and hyperactive pre-adolescent children screamed their enthusiasm. Their parents, guardians and companions were much more subdued, but the glimmer in their eyes betrayed their excitement. After all, it wasn't every day a superstar came to the sleepy city of Spokane, Washington. The concert was scheduled to begin in a half-hour, but at fifteen minutes til eight PM impatience got the better of the crowd and they began to chant.5

"Ashley! Ashley! Ashley!"6

Backstage, Ashley Alaska sparkled. Her hairdresser had meticulously threaded cubic zirconia diamonds through her pink and blonde hair. Her pink, swooped-neck shirt was studded with plastic rhinestones. The seams of her jeans were also covered in rhinestones, creating a line of sparkles down her legs that tucked into her kid-skin boots. Despite the glamorous appearance, Ashley looked bored. She sat in a wooden chair next to the portable makeup vanity where the makeup artist had spent an hour getting her makeup just right. She'd propped her feet up on the vanity table, knocking over several tubes of lipstick and cracking a plastic container of eyeshadow. 7

"Ashley!" The makeup artist's voice was shrill and annoyed. "You get your feet off of there right now!"8

Ashley rolled her eyes and slowly dropped her feet to the floor. She lifted a cigarette to her lips and drew in a deep breath. The makeup artist, whose name was Kara, snatched the cigarette out of Ashley's hand. The younger girl narrowed her eyes at Kara, and defiantly grabbed a wine bottle off the vanity table. Ashley took a long swig of the liquid that swished around in the bottle. Kara tried to confiscate this as well, but Ashley was too fast for her. The momentum of lunging for the bottle carried Kara into Ashley, flipping the chair that Ashley was sitting in. Somehow, Ashley managed to roll backwards out of the chair and land in a crouched position. Kara lay sprawled over the chair, probably bruised in several areas, but not seriously injured. She managed to stand again, and leveled a glare at Ashley.9

"Fine. Ruin your voice and end up in rehab at fourteen. I don't care. You're just a second rate hack anyway."10

Unfortunately, that accusation rang with truth. Ashley Alaska was Kid Network's answer to Hannah Montana. Rumor had it that they'd found Ashley living homeless on the streets a year ago, and took her in, glammed her up and turned her into Ashley Alaska. Originally, the network had wanted to find a rhyming name like Hannah Montana, but no one on the creative panel could come up with anything good, so they'd decided to go with alliteration. Thus, Ashley Alaska was born.11

The glare that Ashley returned to Kara was positively feral. "First of all, I'm eighteen. Not fourteen. The network only passes me off as fourteen so I'll appeal to the little kids. Secondly, how dare you? You spilled my wine. You will fill it up again."12

"I will not!" Kara protested. 13

Ashley stood up and righted the fallen chair. She was tall for her supposed age, and Kara was a petite, short woman, so the two of them were almost eye-level with each other. "You will do it. I am your employer, and if you ever want to work for anyone ever again, you'll fill it up completely."14

Kara's eyes softened as she surrendered her will. She turned from Ashley and walked over to where the toppled bottle lay, bending at the waist to pick it up. As if in a daze, she walked back to the vanity and placed it on the table. Ashley walked over to where a high-end handbag sat on the floor, open, and fished out an old red army knife.15

"You'll need the corkscrew," she said, flipping open the apparatus. "Here, now fill my wine bottle."16

Kara took the corkscrew and stared at it for a moment, then held her wrist above the small opening of the bottle. She brought the point of the corkscrew to the delicate skin there and began to twist the corkscrew into her flesh with determination. Drops of blood began to pool around the metal and drip into the bottle. 17

"It's not filling fast enough," said Ashley, her voice severe. Kara didn't respond, but she did react. She pulled the corkscrew from her wrist with a sickening pop, tearing it from her body and opening the wound even further. Now the blood flowed quickly into the bottle. Ashley watched it in fascination. "It's sad what people will do to appease a superstar," she muttered, halfway to herself. Ashley walked over to Kara. 18

"Stop," she commanded. She pulled the bottle away and corked it, then wrapped it in the jacket she had worn into the arena. She set it aside, knowing it wouldn't be noticed. Kara still stood at the vanity, the blood having now made a significant pool on the table and dripping onto the floor. Ashley screamed as loud as she could.19

"Oh my god! Come quick! Kara just tried to kill herself!"20

Kara shook her head as if coming around. She looked down at her wrist, and in a moment her own screams blended with Ashley's. It didn't take long for the room to fill to bursting. Someone called 9-1-1 and Ashley's publicist pulled her out of the room as soon as she could.21

"Ashley, sweetie, are you ok? I can't believe Kara did that in front of you!"22

Ashley wiped away the tears that were streaming down her face. "I can't either. She was fine one minute, then the next she started calling me names and ... and..."23

"She'll be ok," said the publicist. "We'll hire a new makeup artist. Do you want to postpone the show? I'm sure people will understand if I tell them what happened. We'll make sure they either get a refund or we'll re-schedule."24

"No," said Ashley. She stood as tall as she could and took a deep breath. Now that they were in the hallway, the chanting from the arena could be plainly heard. "They brought all their kids. Some of them even dressed up as me. I'll be alright. I'll check on Kara during the intermission. I have to go on."25

The publicist nodded, obviously impressed. Ashley turned and began walking toward the stage. As the publicist watched her walk away, she had only one thought.26

"Now there is a genuinely good and strong person."