Vanessa was walking down the hall when she saw Paul talking to Sarah. The girl that Andrew was seeing just before his death.

"Oh, hey guys" she said, as she walked closer to them. They didn't turn around to look at her, but they seemed to be deep in conversation. The two of them were having a heart to heart. Vanessa was about to turn around to leave them alone when she heard their name.

"... she wasn't cast for the role so she's a poor choice. We are going to start losing viewers, but James has gotten so stubborn. He refuses to see her faults; the project is too close to him"

"You're right Paul" said Sarah comfortingly "She is on the screen the whole time and there more interesting things that the story could be about. I really wanted to know about Ferne's childhood but instead I get see hard ass chick trying to take over the world. She never has a hair out of place, and I watch the show for the eye candy"

"Woah, I don't know what you are talking about, but Annabelle should have remained as eye candy. Instead she is this flawless, muscle machine that never gets hurt. Nobody wants to see that"

"What do they want to see instead" asked Sarah wide eyed.

'Well they want to see a someone who puts himself in danger and who against the odds drawing on his skills and talents defeats the bad guys." Said Paul with confidence.

"I know that is what I want to see. I want to see somebody like you - play someone like Ferne'"

"Annabelle is just too hard, just too strong. She is so boring. Storylines need conflict. I know that James now has given her really bad asthma, but where is the drama in that?"

"How are we supposed to believe that a person who can't walk down the corridor would be able to round house kick the entire guard squad"

"Exactly Sarah. If you can get it - why can't James? Why can't Vanessa? She accepts any ridiculous script. If I was in her place I would have laughed at James and told him that he is making no sense. But never mind. I guess that her being always so praisy towards him is the reason that she got the job. I can't flirt the way that she does. I wish I could, this place would be better"

'Some girls just want to take advantage of guys. They have no shame." Said Sarah twirling her hair "They will say whatever they have to get attentions from the guys. I guess Vanessa is one of them."

"Yes, she will have her way but what she doesn't realise is that nobody will respect her once she is at the top." Added Paul.

Vanessa started to walk away. James came towards her with a great big smile on his face.

"I just don't know if what we are doing makes sense anymore, James" she started the words spilling out of her mouth.

"What are you talking about" he said the furrows forming across his forehead.

"Annabelle, Annabelle is a nonsensical character" she said "At first I had my doubts, but the deeper we get into the storyline, the more convinced that I become that I won't be able to perform her. I want the audience to sympathise and like her, but she has nothing in common with any of them"

James was silent for the moment; he had his hand on his chin. He was trying to imitate the statue called the thinker.

"And now she has become ridiculous. I don't know how to pant loud enough to impress you. I feel so stupid when I am falling over the place. Annabelle killed monsters with her bare hands two episodes ago."

"Health problems come up in a person's life Vanessa, just take it as an episode in Annabelle's life. We all have our struggles."

"Yes, I worry about what people think. I am scared that people won't like me. I sometimes get suspicious that people are screwing me over." said Vanessa. "These are my struggles. Maybe if I lived in a nation where the water was polluted, I would have different troubles, but maybe I would still bother my head over these small things."

"What are you saying Vanessa" said James.

"You, only you, have the ability to stop me from making a fool of myself." She declared.

"Vanessa whenever you go you won't make a fool of yourself" said James

"Which reminds me, how old is Annabelle. Isn't she like twenty-three? I'm twenty-three and every time I go home my mother is like - I can't watch the show without thinking it's incredible stupid. I see everything that Annabelle has done with her life and l laugh because my Nessie, who I always thought was a bright spark hasn't done half of it. Where does she get the time?"

"Your mother speaks to you like that?" asked James "I thought that Alicia was bad"

'When has Alicia ever said a single bad thing to you James?" asked Vanessa. "Any case I think my mother has got a point, too much back story for the amount of life. In fact, even if she were immortal too much backstory for the amount of life"

"Time works differently in Zilby, you know that Vanessa, I don't know why you are bringing this up" said James. Somehow, he knew it would be more convincing if Alicia had said it, even if only to give him a break so that he could make it known that he thought that Alicia is a fool.

"My mom doesn't know that" said Vanessa "And I have to answer to her."

"So, what do you suggest I do?" Asked James.

"I don't know, maybe we can go through the future scripts together, check them out, interrogate them. Ask yourself if this could really happen, take it out if it can't"

"None of it can happen, Vanessa. The whole show is a farce. That's the attraction Vanessa." Said James.

"No, the appeal of the show is that it is supposed to be more real than reality James! You know that James" said Vanessa.

From that point onwards Vanessa didn't want Annabelle to have asthma, she didn't want to do any of the fighting scenes. Everything that Annabelle was scripted to do, Vanessa second guessed.

"I don't know if Annabelle would have the upper body strength to pull herself up onto the that ledge" said Vanessa to James. "I know that I don't"

"How can Vanessa see the ships if they are five kilometres away – Does she have super sight, I did a trigonometric calculation and they would be below the horizon at that point, at least if she is as tall as me." She told James before shooting showing the battle on the beach.

"Why would Veronique listen to Annabelle like that. I know I can't get Samantha to listen to anything that I say." She told James on another occasion "- oh yes, it's because Annabelle is Veronique's hero. You have obviously never met a personal hero of yours, because once you meet them you become super unimpressed within seconds of meeting of them – at least that's what happened when I meet you James.

James tried to channel some of that – what he assumed was nervousness – into writing the script for the returned Annabelle.

"What if Annabelle shook while looking through her binoculars" he thought "What if Annabelle was too scared to give a definitive opinion when speaking, in case the person she was talking to disagreed with it"

"Annabelle, should we shoot now, or should we wait until the Mamlish get closer?" he wrote the line of the one fighter speaking to Annabelle.

"Yes, shoot now, unless you think that we are more likely to hit them when they are closer, so maybe shoot then, of course by that point they might be able to shoot us too. So - I don't know, do whatever you think will work best, but maybe shoot now, if you want."

"Just shoot" screamed Ferne' over Annabelle's voice.

A volley of bullets went off, killing all the Mamlish who were advancing.

"Yes, you see I know, shooting now was the correct choice. Great. Thank you Ferne' for your contribution. You are a valuable resource to the team."

A large group of men gathered outside of James's office. They all wore black coats and covered their face. Each one of them carried a poster that read "You are silencing us". Except for one who had a poster that said "Give us back our voices". James was surprised that they had actually pitched up in person, but he supposed that they had circulated a petition that had over 2000 signatures. Not that there were any real signatures. There was no evidence that these people had not used sock puppets.

Gareth the leader of the protest had asked James to come to him. James's bosses hoped that James would be able to calm him down. James didn't have much faith in his ability himself.

A teenager girl could be seen walking in the group. "That's Gareth's daughter" said an intern to James. "She's embarrassed to be associated with him"

"She could have stayed at home" replied James.

"Actually, they fight a lot" said the intern "She made all these videos that can be best described as her mocking him and then he retaliates like this. It's easy to see why she does what she does."

"Leads you to be grateful that you aren't in some families" answered James. His own words lead him to think about his own family and whether or not he was grateful to be a member of it.

He seldom or almost never fought with his parents; he generally enjoyed their company. But still most of his thoughts were directed towards Alicia. He was constantly annoyed with her. Was that worse than fighting?

The problem with Alicia was that she was impossible to escape from. Growing up he had always assumed that he would move out and that would be that, but when the time came for moving out, he had accepted her offer of helping him move boxes and now she knew where he lived.

He remembered how as a teenager, he had tried to keep his celphone number away from her. And it would have worked too, but then his parents had added him to their family WhatsApp group. If only she didn't know his surname, life would have been much simpler. But Alicia was pretty smart, she figured it out.

James looked back to Elizabeth and Gareth. For a man who had been silenced by society he sure was screaming load. He decided that his situation with Alicia was far more pleasant than Gareth's case with Elizabeth. She had her phone out and was clearly filming her father.

James shook his head and thought back to how Alicia had secretly filmed him on various occasions between the time he finished school till his twenty-first birthday. It was a complete betrayal of trust. She had taken that footage together with a few choice clips of him as a child and shown it to all his friends. Actually, it was all of her friends because his twenty first birthday had been a surprise party. He didn't believe in birthdays, one day was like another in the path of the long year.

Gareth grabbed a microphone and blasted it in his daughter ear. The other men came and formed a circle around Elizabeth. James could see the men listing off an argument in a pretty watertight fashion. Even though James could not hear what was going on, he knew exactly what they were saying, he knew because he secretly subscribed to all of their subreddits that criticised the show. He was pretty sure that Elizabeth was subscribed to them too. He watched her confidently answering all the of the questions that the men threw her way, in way that no person who had heard them for the first time would have been able to.

There was one of her and so many of them, but James was sure that she would get more support when she posted this online. On the other hand, there would be rape threats in there too.

Maybe he could get Annabelle to step back. Ferne' Brave was after all an impressive man. The community needed strong leadership; they needed a face that they could trust during the war. They needed someone who could create mess in the Mamlish's homeland rather than someone who would clean up the mess.

Maybe he had been too hasty, rushing to get Annabelle to take over Phoenix's role, without adequately considering how the role would have to change now that Annabelle, a woman had picked it up

Paul would love him if he gave him more words. Then there was Veronique. Veronique was already all over Paul, sure he would have to tone her down a bit, but Paul could be strong and fighting fit. Annabelle now couldn't run down a corridor and she turned into a crying mess anytime anybody said anything bad about her. Ferne' was the answer, just like Paul said he was. Paul was the voice of reason afterall. So Sensible.