MidReal Story
Stardom's Rebirth: A Hollywood Tale
Scenario: Rebirth to become a celebrity
Create my version of this story
I woke up in a hospital.
My head was pounding, my body ached, and I was so dry that I couldn’t even swallow.
I tried to open my mouth, but it felt like my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth.
For a second, I thought I was dying and that my body was shutting down.
And then, suddenly, I remembered the accident.
The pain, the noise, the flashing lights.
It all came rushing back to me.
I groaned and tried to sit up, but it felt as though my head was being split open.
“Emma?” a voice said.
I turned my head toward the sound of it and saw a guy standing in the doorway, his face a mask of concern.
I had no idea who he was, but something about him seemed familiar to me.
I wracked my brain, trying to remember where I knew him from, but I came up empty.
“I’m right here,” he said, taking my hand in his.
“It’s going to be okay.”
I blinked up at him, trying to focus on his face.
“Who are you?”
I said, my voice so hoarse that it was barely audible.
He blinked down at me in surprise.
“Emma,” he said.
“It’s me, Alex.”
I stared at him, trying to make sense of what he’d just said.
How did he know my name?
“Who am I?”
I asked after a moment, my voice barely more than a croak.
He looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
“What do you mean, who are you?”
“I don’t know who I am,” I said, feeling a little panicky.
“I don’t remember anything.”
His eyes widened in shock as he stared down at me as though he didn’t know what to say or do.
“You don’t remember anything?”
I shook my head slowly.
“I don’t even know where I am.”
He stared at me for a moment longer and then pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly.
“You’re in Los Angeles,” he said when he finally let me go.
“But you’ve lived here your entire life.”
I’ve lived in L.A.
my whole life?
That couldn’t be right—I would have remembered that for sure.
“But how did I get here?”
I asked after a moment, frowning at him.
Why was he talking to me like we knew each other?
And what had happened to me?
“Don’t you remember anything about your accident?”
You were on your way home from an audition when the car hit you.”
My accident?
What accident?
And what audition?
What was going on?
“You’re an actress,” Alex said, as if that explained everything.
But it didn’t explain anything at all—because if I were an actress, wouldn’t I have remembered that?
Acting is your passion,” he continued as if he hadn’t just asked a question that I didn’t have an answer for.
“And you can finally make your dreams come true.”
My dreams?
What dreams?
What was he talking about?
Alex looked at me eagerly, obviously expecting me to say something in response to his words.
But what could I say?
That he must be confusing me with someone else?
That he must be mistaken?
After all, there was no way that I could be an actress—I would have known if that were true for sure.
Right?
He stared at me for a moment longer before his face broke out into a grin.
“You got the part!”
he said, sounding overjoyed about the news he’d just delivered.
“What part?”
I asked, feeling more and more confused by the second.
On The Last Dance!
You auditioned for it yesterday and you landed the role!
Don’t you remember?”
he said, looking at me in disbelief as he shook his head at me in confusion.
“But how is that possible?
You said it was your dream to get a part on that show and now you’ve done it!”
It might have been my dream to land a role on The Last Dance—and I might have even gotten one—but the truth was that I didn’t remember anything about it at all.
I felt bad about not being able to share Alex’s joy over my accomplishment, but how could I when I had no memory of it ever happening?
He stared at me for a moment longer and then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone before handing it to me.
“Here,” he said as he showed me a picture of myself on the screen.
“I took this picture of you before your audition yesterday. It’ll help you to remember who you are—or at least who you used to be before your accident.”
He scrolled through the pictures on his phone until he found the video that he wanted to show me before pressing play on it so that I could watch it unfold onscreen in front of me.
The video began with Alex filming me as we sat in his car in the parking garage underneath the studio where my audition had taken place.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said, turning the camera to point it at me.
“How are you feeling today?”
“I’m feeling good,” I said, smiling at him.
“I’m a little nervous about the audition, but I think it’s going to go well.”
“Of course it will,” he said.
“You’re incredibly talented and they’re going to see that right away.”
“Oh, Alex,” I said, shaking my head at him.
“You’re too good to me sometimes.”
He reached out and put his hand on my knee.
“You deserve all of this and so much more,” he said.
“I just want to see you succeed and be happy.”
His words made me smile, but they also made me feel a little sad.
It was nice to know that someone believed in me so completely, but how could he be so sure when I wasn’t even sure myself?
And how could he care so much when he was nothing more than a stranger to me?
I stared at the girl on the screen, trying to feel some kind of connection to her—but it was impossible.
She was beautiful and full of life and she just oozed confidence, but she seemed like a complete stranger to me.
And yet she seemed strangely familiar to me at the same time—and not just because Alex had shown me pictures of her or because he’d told me that she was me.
It was something more than that—something deeper that went beyond the surface of who she appeared to be.
The video continued with Alex pointing the camera back at me.“What are you nervous about?
I bit my lip and shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
“I just don’t want it to be like last time,” I said.
“Where it felt like I was completely overshadowed by everyone else in the room.”
Alex reached out and took my hand in his as he turned the camera back to point it at himself.
“That’s not going to happen this time,” he said.
“Not unless you let it.”
I sighed and shook my head again.
“It’s just so hard when I feel like I’m not good enough.”
He reached out and put his hand on my chin, pulling me towards him so that he could place a gentle kiss on my lips that made me shiver in all of the right ways as his hand lingered against my skin.
“Em, you are good enough,” he said.
“More than good enough.You are amazing.You just have to believe in yourself as much as I do.”
“But you’re biased,” I said with a smile as I reached forward and playfully shoved him away from me before crossing my arms across my chest and pretending to pout like a child.
“And you love me,” he said.
“And that makes you biased.”
He chuckled and shook his head at me.
“Yeah,” he said.
“I guess you’re right about that.”
“But I still want you to help me,” I said.
“Because I know you’ll be honest with me and that you’ll make sure that I’m doing my best—and that’s all I can ask for.”
“Of course I will,” he said.
“I just want you to do your best and nothing less.”
He reached out and put his hand on my cheek and ran his thumb over my lips before he leaned forward and pressed another kiss against them.
“You’re going to do great,” he said as the video ended.
I stared at the screen for a moment longer, shocked by what I’d seen.
I had no memory of filming that video or of being in the car with Alex or of ever getting ready for an audition.
But I also had no memory of feeling so insecure or vulnerable or of needing someone else to bolster my confidence in that way.
And yet it was obvious that I had needed him—even if I couldn’t remember why.
It made me feel incredibly emotional—so much so that I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as I stared at the girl on the screen and thought about how lucky she was to have someone like Alex in her life.
But then something inside of me shifted and it was like something clicked into place as I realized that she wasn’t the only girl who was lucky enough to have someone like Alex on her side after all.
I might not remember this video or any of the things that had happened yesterday—or even who I was before I woke up from my coma—but there was a part of me that remembered Alex in some way.
A part of me that hadn’t forgotten how kind and caring he was or how much I meant to him.
Or how much he meant to me.
And even though that part of me hadn’t been able to remember everything else quite yet, it was also a part of me that knew that it never wanted to forget any of those things ever again.
But there were plenty of other things that it still didn’t know—and plenty of other things that it still couldn’t remember.
I nodded, and he held up the phone again, starting another video.
This one showed me sitting on the couch in the living room of my apartment while Alex sat beside me, his arm around my shoulders as he held the camera out in front of us.
“Do you want to tell everyone what’s going on?” he asked.
I shook my head, and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, looking down at the ground.
I mean, I already told them yesterday,” I said.
“I just don’t want it to sound like I’m bragging or anything…”
“Emma, it’s not bragging if you’re just sharing news,” he said.
“And even if it was, you have every right to brag after everything you’ve been through.I mean, come on—you were just cast as a major recurring character on a hit TV show!That’s pretty fucking awesome if you ask me!”
I laughed and threw my head back, nodding as I did so.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said.
“But I just wish I felt more confident about it, you know?”
“You have no reason not to feel confident,” he said.
“Emma, they told you that they wanted you.They didn’t ask you to audition again because they don’t think that you’re good enough.”
“I know,” I said as I nodded and bit my lip, “It’s just…”
He reached out and took my hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze as he turned the camera towards me.
“I know what it’s like,” he said.
“But these people know what they’re doing and they obviously see something in you that the other people didn’t see before.And besides, this show is going to be huge and your character is going to play a huge role in it!I mean—your character is going to be the one that The Last Dance is all about!”
I threw my head back and laughed again and I felt myself blushing as I did so.
“So go out there and give it your all,” he said as he turned the camera back towards himself.
“And remember—no matter what happens, I’m always going to be here for you and I’m always going to love you!”
He turned the camera off and set it down on the coffee table before he reached out and pulled me close against his chest as he wrapped his arms around me in a warm embrace.
And even though I had no memory of any of that happening or of having any of that conversation with him before, it was hard for me to believe that someone who was capable of being so kind and loving could ever really be a stranger.
I was sitting on the couch with Alex when I heard his voice say from beside me.
I turned towards him to see that he was holding his phone up in front of us again.
“The next video is when we finally made it back home after a very long four hour drive,” he said with a chuckle before he pressed play again.
“So are you excited?”
he asked as he pointed the camera towards me.
I nodded and smiled excitedly before turning towards him with a nervous expression etched across my face.