Hi, I'm Umeda Miyuki and I have a pretty good life. It's not perfect but I have everything I need. Great Friends, Loving Parents, and a Job of a Lifetime. That's right I'm the Ultimate Stage Actress. Ever since I was little everyone always said how I would follow in my parents footsteps. And they were right. At 5, I started taking acting classes and in no time at all I was nailing the lead role in my school plays. By the time I turned 13 I had left for California and had gotten my first role in a crime drama as a detective. Immediatly my abilities were noticed and soon I was getting calls from all the big directors asking me to audition in their movie. Because of this, I'm well famous. Everywhere I go I'm instantly recognized as Umeda Miyuki and I've even had people come up to me, asking for autographs and a photo with me. It's pretty awesome. And I'm starring in a new horror drama in a few months, one where I get to play the Final Girl. Though I don't like horror too much, I do love acting. At least I did until a few months ago. Let me start from the beginning.Β
When I came to Hollywood, I was lost. I didn't know where to go or understand really anything here. That's when she came along. Her name was Hanna Hawkins and she was a budding young star like me. We instantly clicked due to our similar tastes in music and in no time we became best friends. Whenever one of us would get a part in ap play, the other would always be the first to congratulate them, surprising them with takeout food from their favorite restaurant. On our days off, we would both hang out and go sightseeing around L.A. It was the perfect friendship. Until disaster struck one day. We had both gotten a role in an upcoming stage play. This stageplay was about a beautiful evil woman and a kind ugly woman. Though the ugly woman always did nice things for the village, the evil woman took credit for all of them. Thinking that she was perfect for him, the king decided to marry her and she soon became queen. The ugly woman fed up with the mistreatment killed the beautiful one and took her place. It wasn't until the end that she realized that she was the true monster and that beauty can only hide your exterior not your interior. In this, we were both cast as the leading women: her as the beautiful one and me as the ugly one. Everything was going great until opening night.Β
"You truly think that I'm the one at fault here? Why, I was just using the gift god gave me." She sneered at me as her eyes seemed to point out my ugliness.
"Beauty was no gift to you but a curse, Lila. It only hides how ugly your actual appearance is." I pointed at her shakily.
"Does that really matter though? With a beautiful face like mine, you don't need to worry about how ugly you are on the inside. As long as you have the whole town siding with you, you can get your enemy executed after all." Watching her perform, a feeling started to take over me. It felt powerful. Like I could do anything.
"Executed? You're going to kill me..!?!"It was as if I had entered the character. My body started shaking uncontrollably and I grabbed my hair in fists of rage.
"Come on, we both knew this was coming dear." She walked over to me and started caressing my cheek.
"You truly are what they mean by evil...." I sputtered, looking down at the ground.Β
"Tell that to my parents then." A hush fell over the crowd. They could see what we were acting. They could see the eerily moonlit night and the gusts of wind blowing through our clothes and hair.
"No you can tell them it, you goddamn witch!" And that's when I lost control over my body. Standing up, I grabbed her by her shirt and led her over to the ledge of the balcony we were on. It was a good 40 foot drop from there.
"Rose, what the hell are you doing!?!" To them it looked like acting. But in reality her nervous face and shaking were real. She really thought that she was about to die.
"Carrying out my final duty as your maid." With a sinister smile, I pushed her. Now this was supposed to make her fall down below with her harness straps on. However, this trick could only be performed at a certain angle. Too into my role, I pushed her in the wrong direction and that's when I heard the 'snap' of her harness breaking. Screaming, I reached out my hand to save her but it was too late and with one final look of betrayal, she fell to her death. The people in the theater thought this was still acting but it became evident that once the curtains closed, something had happened. Running back down the tower, I ran over to where my best friend was but it was too late. Her neck had been snapped in half when she collided with the ground. Of course everyone blamed me for her death and it looked like I was going to jail until I thought fast. I pointed a finger at the stage director. I claimed that I had saw him tampering with her harness. This was because he wanted her gone after she had caught him cheating on his wife. Wanting to make me look like the culprit, he put oil into my shoes so I would push her the wrong way. These words spilled out of my mouth. Again it was like I was in a trance and had taken over the role of a girl who had been made to look like the killer. Thanks to my acting skills, they found him guilty and he was put into jail for 30 years. Why did I do that? He was innocent. This was his first job he had ever landed and he told us how excited he was. He had been studying stage acting for the last few years and had a lot of cool ideas for the play. Heck, he was the one who suggested the tower scene. I had hung out with him a few times along with some of my co-stars and he was definitely a people person. Never was scared to talk to strangers and always invited them into our circle. That's probably why he was so liked by the community. That's probably why he had a wife and 3 children. That's probably why everyone was so shocked to find him guilty.
Now I was the victim and he was the murderer. Every day the press would camp around my house just to see how I was holding up after my best friend's death. News Flash: I wasn't holding up good at all. I could only cry into my pillow for endless hours before forcing myself out of bed to grab a small bite of food. All the while why wondering why I didn't fess up to my crime. Why I murdered my best friend. Why I framed an innocent guy for something that's entirely my fault. It's because...because I love acting. I love acting to an extent when I become someone else entirely. Like everything about my personality switches to the person I'm trying to be. I don't care who I hurt as long as I do the role. That was why I loved acting.Β
Eventually, the hype around the case died down. I mean I couldn't go anywhere without being pitied even to the bakery down the street where I got fresh pastries each morning. Still it was better than being bombarded by reporters every time I went to go get the mail. And best of all I was getting back into acting. After taking a year off from acting due to what happened, I was ready to go back in and nail another role. That was what I thought as I packed my things and left my Hollywood Mansion, leaving instructions for my housekeeper. That was until I jumped in my taxi and phoned my agent saying I would be there soon. That was until I took a sip of the water in the car. That was until I blacked out....