Accident

It was late in the evenig when Rina decided to return home. She had stayed at a coffee shop after leaving Mr Bellamy’s office. And seeing as someone had trailed her to the director’s, who was to say there weren’t others reporters lurkinng around her. With her current reputation, she had angered a lot of internet users. If her address were to be found out and shared on the internet…she shivered at the thought of what they’d do.

In the entertainment industry, there’s been cases where celebrities have angered netizens. Like four years ago, after Rina had quit on her career to focus on her marriage, netizens had longed for another capable face and talent to grace their screens and soon found her. Jennifer Viagro, one of the industry prinncesses. She was a very great talent, diverse in her field and if not for Rina’s extraordinary skills, she would have easily become a competition.

She was a great actress who could easily play any role given to her. With her talent and Rina’s retirement from the industry, netizens had decided the seat of Queen couldn’t stay vacant for too long and had crowned Jennifer Viagro as Queen of the industry over her immediate competitor, Kayla Reese.She has stayed queen for three years.

Everyone had loved her so much for her talent and beauty. To her fellow artists, she was an inspiration and to netizens, she was a goddess. With a slate as clean as snow, a face as beautiful as that of a mermaid’s and a gift from the creator himself, she was the perfect queen.

But then one day, a scandal broke out.

A high budget movie director was casting two princesses, the past princess now turned queen, and the present in his film. The movie was a historical film about love and war and had a budget of over ten billion dollars and was scheduled to break the international market. The storyline of the movie was good, and with two famous actresses as female leads, and an all time award winning young star, Jason Stone as male lead, Movie lovers highly anticipated the release and followed news about the ongoing production.

Jennifer Viagro was to play the lead female role and Kayla was to play the second female lead. The movie productions had been going well, and running smoothly until one day, a video of Jennifer hitting Kayla outside the movie scene had surfaced online.

In the video, Kayla was seen crying after being hit.

"Jennifer, I told you I didn't sleep with anyone to get this role. With my reputation, I think I am qualified to be a part of this production."

Apparently, the two women had had an argument, but only that one video had been posted online. No one had cared to investigate to do an investigation. They had all concluded based on Kayla's words.

The new queen was trying to surpress a princess. How tables turn. When she was a princess she had been meek and lovely and now she had become a queen, she dared to surpress someone and that too, a popular name like Kayla Reese?

Who did she think she was?

The guts to think Kayla slept with anyone just to get a role. In case Jennifer had forgotten, Kayla was a Princess in the entertainment industry and to get to that position, one had to have talent. Plus, Kayla was the only child of one of the wealthiest families in the country. She had the backing of her family. How dare Jennifer, a common actress with no backing accuse her of sleeping with someone to get a role?

Netizens had been furious and Kayla's fans had been mad. They had called her names, threatened to boycott the production of the movie if she wasn't removed and had also stripped her off her title as queen of the entertainment industry.

The fallout was swift and brutal. Jennifer Viagro's reputation plummeted overnight. Fans who once adored her had turned into her harshest critics, flooding social media with vitriol. The production company, under immense pressure, had no choice but to drop Jennifer from the film. The role was hastily recast, and the project moved forward, but the shadow of the scandal lingered.

Jennifer's career took a nosedive. She was dropped by her agency and lost endorsement deals. Invitations to premieres and award shows dried up. Even her closest friends in the industry began to distance themselves, wary of being tainted by association.

And as if that wasn't enough, someone had shared Jennifer's home address on Kayla's fan page and some of her crazy fans had gone ahead to visit Jennifer's home. They vandalized her property, leaving threatening messages and destroying her garden. The police were called, but the damage was done.

Rina had watched the entire debacle unfold from the sidelines. She couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Jennifer.

The industry could be ruthless, and public opinion even more so. Two years ago, Rina had faced her own share of controversies, and backlash from netizens. Yet, the fear of being in Jennifer's shoes was ever-present, especially now with her own situation becoming increasingly precarious.

Now that she thought about it, that incident had seemed planned. Kayla wasn't one to act weak in any situation, especially not in the face of competition.

The streets were nearly empty as she made her way home, the city wrapped in the quiet hush of late evening. She kept her head down, her senses on high alert for any sign of being followed. When she finally reached her apartment, she quickly slipped inside, bolting the door behind her. The darkness of her living room was a small comfort, a brief respite from the chaos outside. She turned the light switch on and went to her room. After Mr. Bellamy's attempt at touching her, she felt filthy and desperate for a bath.

When she stepped out of the shower, she got dressed into comfortable home wear and wanted to make dinner when she remembered she had nothing at home.

She returned to her room, grabbed a coat and her wallet. The night was cold as it was nearing autumn.

She stepped outside and locked the door.

Her phone rang in her pocket, startling her. She pulled it out and saw that it was George calling. She breathed a relieved sigh and answered the call.

"George..."

"Rina, how are you?" George's voice, tired, came from the other end.

"I'm fine!" Rina replied softly.

"I tried speaking with a few directors on your behalf, but, no one would hear your name.

Let's give it a rest, you're currently trending once again, no one wants to hear a thing I have to say."

Rina nodded. "How about the higher ups... we could talk to them. All I'm asking is that the ban is lifted, I can help myself from there."

George sighed. Why was this girl being stubborn. Speaking to the higher ups on her behalf was impossible, lifting her ban was impossible and making a comeback? That was an unrealistic request.

"Rina, you can't make a comeback. You are multi talented, you could always venture into other things." George couldn't understand why she was being adamant about it.

"George, we can make it possible, we just have to..."

The blaring of car horns and the screeching of tires assaulted Rina's senses as she stumbled through the dimly lit streets. And then it happened—a blinding glare of headlights, the roar of a powerful engine, and the screech of brakes. Before she could react, a luxurious car swerved dangerously close, narrowly missing her. Fear gripped her heart, and she tried to jump out of the way, but her tired legs betrayed her.

In the seconds that followed, Rina felt herself being pulled away from the path of the oncoming vehicle. The world spun, and she lost consciousness.