what would you do for fifteen-minutes of fame? for penelope, there was nothing she wouldn’t. the sixth daughter of an impoverished has-been celebrity, penelope knew that thirst for limelight was in her blood. it was just too bad that the limelight doesn’t seem to want anything to do with her.

but no matter. nowadays, people become infamous all the time. infamous. what’s the difference anyway? it still has the word ‘famous’ in it.

penelope thought of the easiest way of getting attention. a scandal. one of those sex scandals without the sex. or maybe a snuff film caught on tape. there could be a manhunt for the murderer, the perpetrator, the perp (penelope liked the word ‘perp’); and then she’d come out and say it was a hoax. and that neither she nor the perp (whoever he or she may be) never meant to scare anyone. they just wanted to show their talents.

the problem was, penelope couldn’t find anyone willing to become her perp. no one wanted to become known as a killer. “the stigma, you know?” her friends would tell her. well, they weren’t her friends anymore.

it took penelope weeks before she could find her perp. it was a guy. penelope wanted a girl, initially. to make it stand out. but a guy would have to do. at least she found a willing participant in her scandal.

the planning was all set; that was the only perk penelope could see from her weeks of search. she has the whole scandal plotted out: how her perp would film her bound and gagged; how he would slowly trace the outlines of her body (penelope worked out for six months straight to get all the flabs off her body) with his finger; how he would plunge the fake knife (she found one that looked real) into her heart three times. penelope even found this easy-to-break wax thing that blended perfectly with her skin. and she had made the perfect mix of food coloring and sticky arnibal that would become her blood; three small packets of which will be hidden under the wax thing.

penelope even worked out the time line of the whole thing: from the moment the ‘scandal’ would be released, to the time when she’d come out and say it was just a hoax.

finally, the day of the shoot came. her perp was well-prepared, bringing his own set of costumes. penelope was thrilled at how into the hoax her accomplice was. the way he brandished the fake knife made it look more real. her cellphone, which they will use to shoot the whole thing wasn’t all that high-tech. so it didn’t really matter if the knife didn’t look real in real life. but it definitely helped penelope get into character.

of course, penelope had to work on not grinning broadly. finally her dreams of stardom are about to come true.

penelope lied down on her bed, tying her own gag, and tying her own feet. for her hands though, she’d have to rely on the perp. he obliged with the tying. and then penelope made herself comfortable as her perp set-up the cellphone to film everything.

and that’s when penelope started to feel something was wrong. her bed already felt sticky. as if the food-coloring-arnibal concoction she made had already spilled. but that didn’t make sense. she remembered making sure nothing spilled on the bed sheets. it had to look as clean as possible for the camera.

her perp moved closer to her, and panic began to settle in penelope’s eyes. this can’t be happening, she thought. i had everything planned perfectly! the bed sheets should be clean.

penelope moved her head, to see the bed more clearly. she moved the pillows strewn about using her tied hands. the low light made it impossible to see, but she swore there was some dark blotches under the pillows. penelope looked to her right, to the dark place just beside her bed. where the perp is supposed to stand while he filmed her.

the perp was there all right. the perp she convinced to film the scandal. except he wasn’t alive. which meant—

penelope heard movement to her left. the other perp was already holding the knife up, the cellphone filming all her movements.

with her hands and feet bound, penelope couldn’t move.

through her gag, penelope’s scream was real.