Show No Mercy

by Bethany Walkers

  Callum almost laughed. He was enjoying reading it all ready.

  Part Two - Flashback

  As I lie in my bed,

  Your name running through my head.

  All I can think of is you

  And all that you do.

  The way you look at me.

  I feel as if I’m in a dream.

  The blue sky

  Reminds me of your eyes

  Which gives me butterflies.

  You have brightened my life

  With that beautiful smile.

  No longer are my days a trial.

  Your touch is like heaven,

  Upon my young skin.

  If only you knew

  That what I say is true

  I would do anything just to be with you.

  Hand to hand, palm to palm

  Just hold me in your arms,

  I love you with all my heart

  'Till the very day it falls apart.

  I may be young

  But my heart is strong.

  I know what love is

  It's my name and his.

  You make all the problems float away

  No matter how was my day.

  I love our heart to heart chats

  When our beats connect,

  And when my head starts to fade back

  From when the blue sky

  Turns sacred black.

  Chapter Five

  The cleaning advertisement

  Sophie Steele was a beautiful and attractive young woman, and was at her work studio. She worked at a TV production company, making adverts. She was the most popular woman in the crew, and everyone always gazed at her enviously. However, her director despised her for showing off and never doing what she was told to do. On the other hand, Mr. Sandalwood couldn’t help but admit that she was eye candy for the TV viewers, especially the men, and was probably the prettiest lady on the set.

  Sophie had long, black, silky, straight hair that went up to her waist, so she often tied it up. She had a slim figure which many girls would only dream of. Every inch of her was beautiful.

  "Come on, places everyone!" shouted the director, Mr. Sandalwood, furiously. Sophie loved to annoy Mr. Sandalwood for her own pleasure. You only live once. That was her motto.

  "SOPHIE! THIS ISN'T A PLAYGROUND, THIS IS A TV STUDIO! YOU'RE NOT A LITTLE KID! YOU'RE A WOMAN! NOW GET GOING!" Mr. Sandalwood roared.

  "OK, OK, keep your hair on, SANDALWOOD!" Sophie shot back, mocking his last name by giving it extra emphasis.

  The advert was to advertise some washing-up machine powder. Sophie was about to play a trick. Sophie had planted a dirty shirt in the basket, which another girl from the crew, named Christie, was going to produce. This would keep Mr. Sandalwood raging. Christie did not know that she would be holding up a dirty shirt. This meant that Christie would get the blame.

  Christie Clough and Sophie Steele were deadly enemies. They were forever shouting and arguing with each other.

  Sophie joined the others, because it was time for take one of the advert.

  "And … ACTION!" Mr. Sandalwood roared.

  "I get some washing up machine powder,

  And put my clothes in the washing machine,

  But my clothes stay the same!

  They're not clean!

  So then I get some Dazzle powder,

  And it works a treat!

  My clothes are nice and clean

  So now I can save time and eat!"

  Sophie sang this with five other women. They held up how the results were without using Dazzle, and then Christie held up the shirt with using Dazzle. It was dirty and soil-stained. Everyone started sniggering so hard it hurt.

  "CHRISTIE!" Mr. Sandalwood cursed.

  "It wasn't me," Christie said innocently, throwing Sophie a dirty look.

  "Grow up, Christie." Mr. Sandalwood didn't seem to realize what Christie said. “Don’t think you’re going to be the woman of the house by copying Sophie’s bad deeds.”

  Christie sighed angrily, tossing her hair back. Christie had short red hair and wore so much make-up that it literally looked like she’d plastered it on. Despite her efforts, she wasn’t exactly popular with the men.

  As they took a coffee break, Christie strolled right up to Sophie, with a fake crown on her head, a furious expression worn on her face.

  "You'll pay for this," Christie said. "You could have lost me my job!"

  "Well, at least I didn't lose mine," Sophie threw back, and gave Christie a fake but dazzling smile.

  "Just go to hell, Sophie,” Christie said hotly, even though she didn’t give a fig about religion.

  "Why should I? I don't deserve to." Sophie paused. “And don’t bring God into this.”

  "Oh yeah?" Christie said, hands on hips.

  "Well, you deserve to perish in hell. Have you got any reason why you shouldn't go there?"

  Christie snorted, clearly defeated. She walked away.

  "Nice one, Soph'," Sophie's friend, Bessie, said. Bessie was short, with shoulder-length ginger hair. She never wore make-up, or fancy clothes. She was more of a simple person.

  "I couldn't do any better," Sophie said, smiling at her.

  Chapter Six

  Adam’s work colleagues

  Adam Attenborough was a successful business man at the time. He was an irresistible man, always dressed smartly and was kind at heart to some people. Adam was very rich. It started off with just a small business, but then it developed into a bigger and better business, expanding and becoming more successful as the days went on. A limousine pulled up outside of Mr. Sandalwood's studio. Four of Adam's work agents climbed out. They walked inside the studio.

  "Hi, is Sophie Steele here?" asked one of them, whose name was Mike. Mike was dressed in formal attire, his hair spiked up and his forehead full of spots.

  Mr. Sandalwood stroked his grey beard. "Yes, but why?"

  "Oh, we have a message to pass on to her sent by Adam Attenborough. Now can we please speak to her in private?" Mike said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

  "Yes, come right this way." Mr. Sandalwood lead the way. He was somewhat excited, because such successful businessmen were coming to see a mischievous young lady.

  Mr. Sandalwood pat Sophie on the shoulder. Sophie shrugged him off, disgusted that her director was touching her.

  "What was that for?" she asked suspiciously.

  "Oh, nothing.” Mr. Sandalwood nodded towards Mike and his fellow colleagues.

  "Now, Mr … Mr … " Mike began. He’d forgotten Mr. Sandalwood’s name already.

  “Sandalwood,” Mr. Sandalwood prompted kindly.

  “Can you find me, Sophie and my agents a private room to talk in?"

  "Certainly," Mr. Sandalwood said. "Do you like our adverts? Would you like some biscuits? Can I get you a cup of coffee?" Mr. Sandalwood always sought every opportunity for self-promotion.

  "Do stop wasting my time," Mike replied hotly. "Now, where do we go?"

  "Just here," Mr. Sandalwood opened a door.

  Mr. Sandalwood grabbed Sophie by the arm and ushered her in.

  "Get off me, Sandalwood."

  "Come on, I haven't got all day," Mike shook his head. "I've got to be down at the airport in a couple of hours for a business flight."

  Sophie followed them into the room. Christie and Mr. Sandalwood started eavesdropping.

  "Adam Attenborough would like to propose to you ..."

  "Do you say yes?"

  They eavesdropped at the wrong parts.

  "They're getting married!" Christie said jealously, thinking why anyone would want to marry Sophie, though the reason was very clear.

  "Oh, Sophie has finally done something with her life," Mr. Sandalwood exclaimed, and began daydreaming of how Sophie would shower him in her money because she would be getting married to a very rich man.

  The truth was that Adam was proposing her a deal on giving her housing benefits.

  They started eavesdropping again.

>   "So, do you agree?"

  "Well, erm ..."

  "Come on, I need a downright answer here."

  "I'm not sure."

  "Well, here's his card ... phone him to let him know about your decision."

  The door opened and Mr. Sandalwood and Christie quickly backed away, trying to pretend to be engaged in their own conversation.

  “So, Christie, how was your day?” Mr. Sandalwood asked Christie. His acting was highly unconvincing. Then they quickly turned around to see Mike and the others walking out of the room. “Oh, there you are! Did you have a nice chat?”

  Mike snorted, and then turned to Sophie. "Thank you for your time, Sophie," he said.

  "And you, Mr. Sandalwood," one of the others, Chris, added, who literally looked identical to Mike.

  "My pleasure," Mr. Sandalwood grinned, and gave Sophie an assuring and excited wink. Sophie blinked, confused.

  Adam's work agents left and as soon as the door shut on their disappearance, Mr. Sandalwood and the others started cheering loudly, all except from Christie.

  Chapter Seven

  The lie

  "Why're you cheering for?" Sophie asked, puzzled.

  "You're getting married, ah ha, ah ha, you're getting married, ah ha, ah ha!" Mr. Sandalwood started dancing with Christie all around the room.

  "Me? Getting married? To who?" Sophie jumped at the thought that Mr. Sandalwood was going to propose to her.

  "To Adam Attenborough, of course," Bessie cheered.

  Sophie looked at them all, dumbfounded. She suddenly realized what was going on. They had eavesdropped at her conversation with Mike at the wrong parts. However, she didn't want to ruin their good mood. So she went along with the chat.

  "You should so agree to the marriage," Bessie gushed.

  "Hmmm. Maybe I should. I mean, we've been dating for ages." Sophie coughed, smiling modestly. She was starting to tell stories now.

  "Really?" Mr. Sandalwood said, now looking even more excited. "Why didn't you tell us?"

  "Because I was embarrassed. I thought you'd laugh at me, 'cause I'm dating some business boss," Sophie shrugged casually.

  "Why would we laugh? Oh, you're so lucky lucky lucky!" Bessie chanted. "I've wanted to get married for ages, but I'm not much of a looker, am I?"

  "Well, do the looks matter?" Sophie smiled. "It's what matters on the inside."

  "You're so right," Mr. Sandalwood said, as if he were joining in a girly chat.

  "But you're still really pretty, Soph'," Bessie insisted. "Men nowadays don't really aim for the ugly ones.”

  "Stop feeling so bad about yourself," Sophie said. "You're a really sweet girl. I don't aim for looks when I'm choosing who to be mates with, do I? Take Christie, for example. I'm not mates with her, I'm enemies with her."

  "Right," Bessie said, and she shut up talking about how her appearance was ugly. She giggled. “But Christie’s not nice on the inside, or the outside, is she?” Her and Sophie laughed together, whilst Christie’s face went red in fury.

  "Why do you always have to talk about me when it comes to your personal life?" Christie tormented. "We only hate each other because I've got a better role than you when we're producing our adverts." She paused. “Mr Sandalwood would kick you out if you put another toe out of line.”

  "You just shut up, Christie," Sophie shot back.

  "Who's gonna make me? You're just a warty faced ugly spiteful turnip who I just happen to have to work with."

  "Enough!" shouted Mr. Sandalwood, spraying spit all over Christie's face. Christie was lucky that she didn’t scream at the bacteria that had just been dribbled on her face. "Don't upset Sophie, OK? She's got a big decision to make right now."

  "Phone Adam, Soph'," Bessie suggested. "Tell him that you agree. That Mike bloke gave you Adam's card, didn't he?"

  "Yeah, phone him," Mr. Sandalwood smiled encouragingly.

  "Well, OK," Sophie gulped. What was she going to do now?

  Everyone thought that Adam was offering her marriage, not housing benefits. What would she say?

  She started dialling the number ever-so-slowly on her phone.

  "Oh, hurry up," Mr. Sandalwood said impatiently, as if it was him getting married and not her. "Look, I'll do it for you."

  He snatched the card off Sophie, dialled in the number, pressed the green phone button and handed the phone back to Sophie.

  "Yes?" someone said at the other end.

  "Is this Adam Attenborough?" Sophie mumbled.

  "No. I'm Cameron, his work colleague. Who are you?"

  "I'm Sophie Steele."

  "BLOODY HELL! WHY WON'T YOU AGREE TO THE HOUSING BENEFITS?" Cameron literally roared. It was lucky that the phone wasn’t on loud-speaker, because then Mr. Sandalwood would have heard and the penny would have really dropped.

  "I thought I was supposed to tell Adam whether I agree or not." Sophie shrugged even though Cameron wouldn’t be able to see her doing this.

  "As Adam doesn't even happen to know you, I don't think that will be necessary. Now, you can tell me."

  "I agree."

  "FINALLY! Thank you." Cameron grinned and was about to dial off but couldn’t because Sophie was going to first.

  "Bye." She pressed the red phone button abruptly.

  "We didn't manage to catch what Adam said on the other end. What did he say?" asked Mr. Sandalwood.

  "Oh, when I said I agree, he just couldn't stop telling me how over-the-moon he was," Sophie replied.

  "Oh, that's fantastic!" Bessie cried.

  "This calls for a party," Mr. Sandalwood announced.

  Chapter Eight

  Mr. Sandalwood’s work party

  Bessie went down to the jukebox. She turned the music up to full blast. She put on the full top forty chart: Timber by Pitbull featuring Kesha, Happy by Pharell Williams, Hey Brother by Avicii and many, many more songs.

  The caterer quickly put snacks on the table because he didn't have time to make a proper meal.

  The snacks were crackers and cheese, pineapple juice, orange juice from concentrate, chocolate bars, big bags of Cofresh chilli crisps, mini bags of Walkers crisps, rainbow sweets, leftover jelly babies, and loads more snacks.

  Mr. Sandalwood removed the fake but gorgeous crown from Christie's head and placed it on Sophie’s. Christie gave Sophie an icy glare but daren't say anything.

  Sophie got to sit down on the biggest, comfiest, squashy chair.

  Mr. Sandalwood fed her snacks as if she was a Queen. Sophie loved the attention she was getting, even though she had lied to get the party.

  Then Bessie lifted her up from the chair and started dancing with her. Sophie couldn't dance to save her life, but dancing with Bessie was making it easier for her as her feet and legs and arms moved swiftly around the room.

  "You won't forget us, will you, Sophie?" Mr. Sandalwood asked, as if he was about to cry. His voice was breaking.

  What the hell, Sophie thought. Up until now, he’s always hated me, and now he’s acting as if I’m his favourite actor on the set. He needs to get his life sorted. How am I going to explain to them that I’m not actually going to leave?

  "Why would I?" Sophie laughed. "All you guys have been there for me through all of my life. You deserve to be remembered." Sophie paused. "Except from Christie, of course. She doesn't deserve to be remembered. But I don't think I'll forget her, either. She's my worst enemy."

  "Ha ha, very funny," Christie shook her head. "At least you won't be here. That way I can get on with my life smoothly without having to be bothered by you. So there."

  "Come on, this is a party," Mr. Sandalwood shouted, to stop them from arguing. "Can’t you both get along for once? Let's have some fun!"

  "Whatever," Bessie shrugged. She let go of Sophie after giving her a hug, and went to the table to eat some chocolate.

  "Fattie," Christie muttered.

  "Don't you dare call her fat," Sophie snapped, and then shocked herself by what she’d just done. She’d slapped Christie
.

  Everybody gasped.

  “You little bitch!” Christie roared, and then chased Sophie around the room. They began to fight with each other, ripping at each other’s hair.

  “Stop it!” Mr. Sandalwood broke them apart, sweat beading on his forehead. “Please, just stop it!”

  Sophie and Christie were both panting, red-faced.

  “She started it!”

  “No, you started it!”

  “No, you!”

  “ENOUGH! For God’s sake, you’re both like a pair of wild animals! Stay away from each other,” Mr. Sandalwood bellowed.

  "Are you all right?" Bessie was crying. “This is all my fault.”

  “I'm fine," Sophie shrugged. "Don’t ever let anyone put you down, babes."

  Sophie hugged her best friend.

  "At least you’re getting married. And to the hottest guy ever. Adam Attenborough, man!" Bessie exclaimed.

  "Whatever." Sophie couldn’t help the word escaping from her mouth.