Because I'm too broke to join the workshop

[B]Dr. Limelight[/B]
by Ritt

Jaylene,

If u ever feel alone during the time of ur rehabilitaion, just kno that I will b thinking of u and will keep u in my prayers. It must b real tough on u right now. With the divorce and battle 4 ur kids and everything. They just dont understand. The ppl and the press don't understand the stress, troubles and sacrifices u make. But fuck them. I will always believe in u jaylene. May ur stay in rehab be a safe and hopefully fast one.

ur biggest fan,
Kara Saunders

Stardom changes people. People like Jaylene Riggs, seemingly famous for nothing. Before she acquired all this fame anyway. Before she was a celebrity, she was an artist. But sometimes, achieving celebrity status means a major change in identity. First, she was known as a singer, movie star and model. Now she's known best as a drugged up cooc who can't keep her glamourous millionare ass out of rehab, or hold on to a half-stable marriage for longer than a month. For some, a pre-stardom somebody and a post-stardom somebody are two different people.

Kara,
Thank you so much for the suporrt, it really is sweet. Im doing ok with everything. I hope to be back out soon and preforming for you and all the res of my fans really soon. Thank you again for all the kind letters.
xoxo,
Jaylene Riggs

Stardom changes people, but not just the stars. People like Jaylene's biggest fan, Kara Saunders. The girl who's always sending Jaylene heart warming fanmail everytime she makes negative press for getting too high and doing something detestable. Kara worships Jaylene Riggs. In her bedroom, the origional wallpaper has completly vanished behind dozens of Jaylene posters. She has all of Jaylene's albums in CD format and vinyl. Every film Jaylene ever appeared in, Kara can recite Jaylene's lines word for word. Her dressor top, bombarded in magazine cutouts and autographed concert photos. She bought a strand of Jylene's hair off of Ebay, and got extensions of the exact length. She's even saving up her money to get breast implants of Jaylene's same measurements when she turns eighteen. Her bedroom, her body, her own mind is all a temple built in honor of the goddess Jaylene Riggs. Achieving celebrity status brings another to obsession.

********

"He's so great! I love him!" says Jaylene Riggs, fresh out of rehab, into the Hollywood reporter's microphone as she struts down the red carpet aside her third fiance. The lights shining on her reflect off of her nose giving it a smooth glow. It does the same to her cheeks, her shoulders, her oiled breasts and all the rest of her plastic accessories. Stardom is a plastic surgeon. Standing under the spotlight is the same as being under the knife. It alters all of your natural physical attributes. Dr. Limelight.
"He's wonderful! I really do love him!" Jaylene is still shouting into the microphones and cameras. "But your album Jaylene..." the reporter follows the human shaped plastic glow down the aisle, "Your new album is expect..."
"I love him!" Jaylene interupts. The fiance has an arm over her bony shoulder which has been altered by Dr. Limelight.
"Yes Jaylene, you do. But what about your new deal with..."
"I love him!"
Jaylene is clearly high. Her every answer is...
"I love him!"
"Do you think you'll win tonight?"
"He's so great!"
"What about the child custody battle with..."
"I love this man!"
"...your ex-husband and two kids?"
"..love him!"
The ongoing series of camera flashes glaze her dialated pupils. Her botox smile touches ends with Dr. Limelight's fake cheeks as she circles in her drugged up, repetitive, verbal loop.
This is the reputation she has now. She is no longer acknowledged for her music, her acting, or her modeling. This is what people know her as now. Jaylene Riggs, seemingly famous for nothing, relying on the negative press. Because a pre-stardom somebody and a post-stardom somebody are two different people.

************

"She needs psychiatric help. She needs some sort of guidance..." Once again, Jaylene Riggs is the subject of morning talk shows all over radio and television. This time, it's about how she showed up at an award show drunk and under the influence of several doses of paxil and a couple hits of ecstasy. After she didn't win any of the awards she was nominated for, she ran on stage and ripped her dress off. Shortly after, she was found passed out naked in the bathroom with x's and o's written all over her face and chest with her own lipstick.
Before this, it was about how Jaylene was on her way to rehab, because she got so coked out that she forgot her eleven month old baby in a limo, while she took a private jet out of the country. Before that, it was the DUI arrest, while she had her other baby in the front passenger seat, she was on the freeway going sixty mph in the break down lane, while trying to pierce her own nipple with a heated bobby pin.
"Clearly she's not mentally stable." says one of the women on tv, "She needs to be put on suicide watch."
"What does she need to be upset about?" Another woman argues, "She has anything and everything!"
"It's all the publicity. It's driven her to to the edge." says a third woman, "She needs a straitjacket or something. Rehab obviously isn't doing this poor girl justice."
Kara Saunders watches this with sheer frustration as she rants out loud to her tv, "Don't you cunts have anything better to talk about? Isn't there a war or something you could be discussing?"
Defending her idol, young Kara is blinded by admiration, "She doesn't mean any harm. She makes mistakes, like all the rest of fucking humanity."

Jaylene,
Dont listen 2 them. U do fine 4 urself. U give them all somthin 2 talk about. Without u, all these talk show dikes and cocksucker reporters have nothin interesting 2 share. They r eating off of u jaylene. I kno ur tryin hard tho. I will always luv and believe in u. And ur new fiance is HOT!!!! lol
keep up the good work,
Kara Saunders

Attention Jaylene Riggs fans,

Boycott all news sources who continue to slander the name of the marvelous and gifted Ms. Riggs. Change the channels on your tvs whenever a Jaylene story comes up. Turn off your radios. Go to your local newstand and burn all pieces of negative press regarding our one and only. Let the press know we won't stand for this.

Kara hits send and her message is posted on the chat boards of an internet news site.
Kara absolutly admires everything about Jaylene, and always will. Kara remembers being in the fourth grade, and performing Jaylene's first hit single at her school talent show. That was back when Jaylene was noticed for her musical talents. Before she became a strung out, washed up, broken barbie doll. Before she went under Dr. Limelight's knife. But Kara didn't let all that change her opinion about her. She still worships her, and always will.
On her computer, Kara google searches topics like 'Jaylene Riggs rhinoplasty' and 'Jaylene Riggs ogmentations'. Kara's keeping up to date with her idol's facial features, because the sizes and shapes change every few months.
After taking note of a fraction removed from Jaylene's chin to minimize the bottom half of her face, Kara clicks back over to the message boards to check the responses for her attempt at rebellion on the press.

YaoMiNistEr_1
Jaylene Riggs still has fans?

MoraDoraCora
umm... nice try? lol

TbaggedInCleveland
wtf is that cunt still famous for ne way?

the_butler6969
Your "one and only" should be date raped and shot.

PhillyFakeOut
Joan Crawford was a better mother than that cooked bitch.

RuBmeOut9999
LMAO!!!!!!!
...idiot

green_at_nite
supporting jaylene is like dropkicking babies

BILL_TRIES_HARD
why? without the press she truely is NOTHING

urethra_magic
here's a better idea. how about we make a petition for ms. riggs to go ahead and die by drug overdose already.

green_at_nite
i'd prefer by hanging, or drowning, or sinking in quicksand.

HappyGuy
We can lure her into the quicksand by sprinkling paxil on it lol

TbaggedInCleveland
no one ever did answer me. wtf IS she still famous for?

Jaylene,
I'll kill them! I'll kill them 4 the way they talk about u. Those fucking assholes. Wut right do they have? They dont kno u. They only judge u by wut they hear and see in the goddamn media. They will burn. Theyll burn with their heads on fucking pikes. BURN BURN BURN BURN those cocksuckers. Stay strong jaylene. U rly r the best.
and always will b,
Kara Saunders

Kara,
You are such an angel. All of the support youve been showing for me has been so so sweet. You have the wings and hair of a golden armedillo. A golden armedillo under a blooming rainbow. Dont ever let anyone tell you otherwise darling.
xoxo,
Jaylene Riggs

********

It's all over the news. Pop culture icon Jaylene Riggs was just in a car accident. She was lifeflighted to the nearest hospital where her health remains in a critical state.
Of course, everyone's biggest concern is if there were any babies in the car with her. Everyone except Kara, who watches the live news coverage in horror as her idol lays on a hospital bed unconcious, hooked up to life support, on the verge of death. Doctors, nurses and security guards fight with news crews and paparazzi photographers, threatening to call the police if they don't leave.
Kara looks on in tears, as her idol lays mangled and battered on the other side of her t.v. screen. All of Jaylene's cosmetic body work is destroyed. Her nose no longer has that perfect, straight, point that Dr. Limelight gave it. One of her fake cheeks has clearly caved in. Layers of bandages coat the perimeter of her altered jawline and cradle the base of her brand new chin. One of her breast implants appears to have popped. All of Dr. Limelight's physical modifications, destroyed.
The next day, Kara received another letter from her idol. But this one didn't come in the mail like usual. It was delivered to her door by two men dressed in black suits, who arrived in front of her house in a black limo.

**************

"It changed me. It changed my whole life." Jaylene's words are read in some pop culture magazine. This is a few months after the accident, when Jaylene Riggs is back and commenting on the experience in an interview. All over the country, copies of this issue of the magazine are ripped apart by angry readers.
"Can you believe this twat?" an infuriated reader says to his friend as he crinkles the magazine up in his hands, "Manipulating us all like that. Manipulating the media. Her family. How dispicable!"
"It's going to be a little bit hard getting used to.", Jaylene tells the magazine. Sure, her facial features are almost back to the way they were. The breast and cheek implants are back in. The nose and chin are back to the same shapes and sizes they were before the accident. Some of the bone shavings still need work. Her face is back to getting botox injections on a regular basis. All of the exterior the way it was again. Dr. Limelight's work renewed. But she's different. She's not quite the same Jaylene Riggs anymore. That night changed her forever.
"But I'm going to do the best I can to fill in the gaps and make my fans and family proud!"

Jaylene,
I'm so, so, so glad ur back! But wtf is this, the press jumping back on ur ass already! U just friggin returned! Give us a break lol. Some ppl r still judging u. Callin u a phony. Some ppl are just so cruel. They wouldn't understand wut u went thru. But fuck them, right? I kno ur having family troubles 2 and i'm sorry 2 hear that. I hope all gets better with u and ur mom soon!
best wishes,
Kara

"It's just....that's not my daughter!" says Bethany Riggs, Jaylene's mother sobbing on some talk show. "That's not the girl I raised!"
Kara watches on her t.v. at home. She can't help but feel sorry about her idol's mother tearing like this on national television.
"I know she's made mistakes in the past. Horrible mistakes.", Bethany weeps on, "And I tried my best to help her! Our whole family did! We tried our best!"
Jaylene is also watching this. "It's ok Mom", she says to her t.v., "You don't have to cry. It's ok."

Kara
You know I luv it when you write to me. Everything with me and mom will be worked out soon, thanks for the support on that. They can judge me all they want. You know the old saying, you don't appreciate what you have until its gone? They still dont appreciate. Even thuogh they could have lost Jaylene Riggs that day. But they didnt. Ms. Riggs is still here, and she always will be!
xoxoxo,
Jaylene

*************

Jaylene's first award show since before the accident. she steps out of the limo and onto the red carpet to a series of boos and people chastizing her.
The bright spotlights shine on Dr. Limelight's plastic features, giving them that glazed look they always do. The human shaped glow struts down the red carpet to shouted comments like, "Drop the act!" and "Who do you think you're fooling?"
A hollywood reporter runs up to Jaylene asking questions like "How much longer do you plan to keep this up?" and "What's the current status with you and Bethany Riggs?"

Jaylene,
Why do they hate u? U havnt done ne thing wrong! This is such bullshit. Ur always the enemy 2 them! No matter wut u do. U make mistakes and ur the enemy. U try 2 do good and ur the enemy. U almost die in a car crash, and ur the fucking enemy! This just isnt fucking fair!

xoxoxoxo,
Kara

Jaylene reads this in her million dollar home. "She's right", she thinks to her self.
The words from the fan letter circle her mind as she sits in front of a mirror, running her hands down her face. Dr. Limelight's face. Feeling out all of the fake accessories.
Jaylene Riggs, back from the dead and still just a model of Dr.Limelight's work. Back from the dead and still famous for nothing.

Kara,
You are so right. I dont know why the whole world is so against me so much. I did nothing wrong. There were no babies in the car when it crashed. There were no babies in the car when it crashed. There were no babies in the car when it crashed. There were no babies in the car when it crashed. There were no babies in the car when it crashed. There were no babies in the car when it crashed. There were no babies in the car when it crashed. There were no babies in the car when it crashed. There were no babies in the car when it crashed. There were no babies in the car when it crashed.
xoxoxoxoxo,
Jaylene

"That's not my daughter." Another woman is sobbing on some talk show. But it's not Bethany Riggs. It's a different woman. "That's not my real daughter. That's not the girl I raised!"
Jaylene watches at home, with tears in her eyes too. "It's ok mom. You don't have to cry. It's ok."
The talk show's camera pans over to reveal Bethany Riggs, sitting next to the woman. They're both crying.
"I understand..", the woman says to a teary Bethany Riggs, "..and I know you understand too. I want my daughter back just as much as you want yours."

Jaylene,
Let's stop this. I luv my mom and i kno u luv urs. Im thankful 4 everything u gave me. But im callin this off.
hope u understand,
Kara

Kara,
This is what you wanted. This is what I wanted. Only we understand. Nobody else. xoxoxo How could you turn on me like that? xoxo I did nothing wrong. There were no babies in the car when it crashed. xoxoxoxoxo You helped me and I made you. xoxoxo You can't just walk out on me.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo,
Jaylene

Jaylene's fourth fiance` has now left her. "She had mental issues." The ex tells the interviewer of some hollywood news program. "She was always writing these strange letters, and addressing them back to herself."
Jaylene watches this at home.
"Letters to herself?" the interviewer asked.
"Yeah," says the ex, "These letters would be mailed back to her house. Sometimes addressed to Jaylene Riggs. Other times they were addressed to Kara."
Jaylene watches at home, with her hands over her prosthetic face. The face Dr. Limelight gave her.
"I want out." she says to herself.
"No you don't." she responds to herself.
"Yes I do. I want out. I miss my family."
"The word is out now. Tomorrow it'll be on the cover of every magazine, every newspaper. Every headline will show the world how insane you are..."
"I want to go home."
"...but they don't understand. Fuck them, right?"
"This is too much. My mom's crying on t.v."
"Traitor"
"Fuck you"
"Leave me alone!"
"Love ya!"

*********

It's all over the news. Kara Saunders has just committed suicide. She jumped from a third story window in Jaylene Riggs' mansion. The scene is crawling with police officers, paramedics, and news crews. One reporter stands next to a crying woman. It's the woman from that talk show, the one who was crying with Bethany Riggs.
The reporter says, "I am standing next to Nidia Saunders, the mother of Kara Saunders."
Nidia just looks on in silence. She doesn't need to say anything. Her face says it all, because her face is real, unlike her daughter's. Her face shows her devistation. The same devistation Kara felt back when Jaylene Riggs was in that car accident. The same devistation Kara felt when her idol died in the hospital later that day.
This all reminds Nidia of the day this all started. The day after Jaylene died. Nidia remembers how Jaylene's agents showed up at her house to give her daughter something. It was Jaylene's will. People always talked about how screwed up Jaylene was. But the most screwed up thing she ever did was write all of her fortunes over to her biggest fan.
Kara moved into Jaylene's mansion and inherited all of her money. She got those breast implants she was saving for, the exact same size as the ones Jaylene had before she died. She got the same hair extensions Jaylene had. The same length and color.
The medics wheel the gurny up along side Nidia, carrying the bodybag concealing her daughter.
Kara got all of the cosmetic surgeries that she had been following up on when Jaylene was getting them, all of it, the nose, the chin, the cheeks, the jawline, the shoulders, everything the same as how Jaylene had it.
The medics unzip the bodybag just enough so Nidia can see her daughter's face, hidden under Dr. Limelight's frozen face.
Kara even legally changed her name to Jaylene Riggs, because achieving celebrity status means a major change in identity.
Nidia runs her hand along Dr. Limelight's work. But behind that pale plastic shell, she knows that's her daughter's face.
A pre-stardom somebody and post-stardom somebody are two completly different people.
"Ok." Nidia says and nods to the paramedics as they close the bag and haul it into the back of the ambulance.