"But we'll show them, won't we Maddie? You know, at night I still fall asleep to visions of myself as a big star, laughing, dancing, crying like all other starts do. I know it's only dreams and so far I've seen quite a few mocked and dashed, but I really didn't mind because I knew that it takes getting everything you ever wanted and then losing it to really know ..."
"What a brainless fool a girl can be," Maddie snapped, anger and hopelessness in her voice, and yet, resolution.
In a way this back and forth exchange between the two main characters encloses in a nutshell what this tale is about. Sandy and Maddie, two small town girls from North Florida, struggle to change their luck and make it big in the show business, but when they leave their homes an hostile world awaits them. Unhinging its jaw LA devours them whole and churns them out like old rags. After misadventure, misfortune, and mischief, dreams are shattered, innocence is lost, lives are scarred forever.
Yet they fight back, although failure might be the main theme , this story is also one of resourcefulness, youthful exuberance, and redemption.
Elliot's partner was his whole world, but after Allan's death, his ghost haunts Elliot's dreams. Everyone tells Elliot to move on, but he isn't sure he can.
*****
It's been a year since the love of Elliot's life, Allan, passed away. Everyone thinks he should have recovered after that much time, but Allan still haunts Elliot every night. He struggles to maintain relationships with his family, and despite a coworkers interest he can't summon up the courage to date. Elliot is living for the past, because to live for the present means he'll have to live with a hole in his heart. But the question Elliot has to face chases him through his monotonous days: is mourning Allan with everything he has truly living?
[[word count: 40,000-50,000 words]]