Mallory's Melody

Chapter 24

THE JOB WAS FINISHED AT LAST.

Diana strode away from the dark hallways, leaving Mallory all to the shadows grazing past the walls. She had finally done it, gotten rid of all the obstacles standing in her way. She smiled to herself. She had finally put everything with the slightest vestige of Mallory Trent to a stop. She felt elated, like a player on a football field left to score the goal without being smitten by any form of opposition. For the first time since the auditions, she was truly happy and mostly optimistic that she would no longer have to grapple with naïve Mallory for the spotlight

But the more Diana dwelled on how happy she was, the more she yearned for more happiness, as though the level of exuberance she attained wasn't in itself sufficient. Diana stopped to steal a glance at Mallory, left to sob all alone in the darkness, staring at the sheet of paper Diana had given her with fervid confusion. It was then Diana's happiness dissipated, gave way to a much more fiery proclivity for revenge, as though the one she'd already taken out wasn't enough. Her pulse rocketed with indignation. How dare Mallory cry, how dare she paint her as the bad guy when she was the villain? She was the one who had stepped an audacious foot into the academy, even with full knowledge of her incompetency. She was the one who'd challenged in her in the first place, the one who stole her boyfriend and was even fast-approaching her dreams.

She was the real villain!

But Diana couldn't deny the guilt she felt for poor Mallory. She hadn't met a girl so profusely ignorant of her own life, so oblivious of her environment that it would require an adversary to reveal to her, the dark secrets hiding behind her supposed luxurious life. And if she did have any form, any modicum of awareness in her ignorant self, it was the full-awareness of pulling down Diana's dreams.

Little did she know, that Diana had been studying her weaknesses. The poor fool spread her stockings out in the open, wasn't ever for once conscious of the fact that they could be used against her. And one of those weaknesses, she'd uncovered. Eric Rossi. She'd noticed how fond she was of the guy, the way her eyes always illuminated when practicing with him. It was then Diana marked him as the target, not only the key to her success but also the harbinger to rock Mallory's world. Fortune never came so easily as it did when she became cognizant of Jason's desperation for money. And that coupled with his hatred for Eric made it child's play luring him to deal with Eric Rossi. Besides, she dated Jason Trevor for two years now. She'd mastered his weaknesses. His predisposition to be hostile to any opposition made him far much more susceptible to accede to her demands. The bastard was overtly jealous of Eric Rossi's affiliation with Mallory, and gosh she hadn't realized how much uglier jealousy did make a person.

But she was over Jason Trevor now.

Over him for a long while now. He no longer caught her appeal with how soft he'd become. Beneath all the brawn, he was a wimp, a nobody foolish enough to find Mallory's naivete attractive. To fall for her without hesitation. Diana stepped into her dressing room and laughed out loud. It wasn't her fault he didn't see her for what she was; confident, beautiful, and soon-to be-starlight star. But who was Jason when she had Bryan Taylor, the brain-dead stooge that was her partner. As irritatingly rabid and obsequious he was, she could tolerate someone so willing to do whatever she wanted.

"Could you hand me my hair-rollers dear?" Diana asked Bryan, standing aside her like the robotic fool he was.

Bryan smiled at her. "Sure baby, But first—" He leaned in for a kiss.

Diana would have initially declined, but now she pulled his collar to her and poured all her passion into the kiss, her heart fluttering like it never had before. Oh, how happy she was. With Mallory out of the competition, she was sure to win. But that wasn't the reason as to her ecstasy. It went deeper than that, spurred from a place in her heart that burnt ferociously, the special compartment where she nursed her animosity for Mallory Trent. She wasn't just exhilarated Mallory was out of the competition, she was glad to have turned Mallory's world inside-out.

Somewhere right now, Mallory Trent was heart-broken, stricken over the illusory world she'd been living in. And with time that happy and ever-exuberant Mallory Trent she so whole-heartedly hated, would be no more.

Dead as she should have been from the beginning.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

Eek, even as the author, Diana gives me the chills. I had no intent to publish this chapter, but Diana was so persistent in her asking me to take her little philosophical rant out to the public, so here it is :) (Now hopefully, she'd get off my back. )

Vote and comment! or rather...Make Diana less edgy 😊