Just like a movie

Honey Yang

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Just like a movie

Honey Yang

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About the author

Honey Yang (1988~) was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. She has never

thought about writing a novel since she was a child. That is because she

doesn’t think she is good enough in writing. For her using her native

language to write a composition is almost impossible, writing a novel in

English still less. However, in 2007 her first English novel “Just like a

movie” is going to be published. In the novel, she used abandon of

conversations to lead readers enter the scenes of story. It makes the novel

more vivid and more interesting.

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Just like a movie

Honey Yang

Brandon Black likes movies. He goes every weekend with his

girlfriend, Emily. They are happy together, but they don’t have

money. Then Brandon has an idea and thinks that real life can be

just like a movie. And that’s when things start to go wrong.

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Contents

Chapter 1 Emily 7

Chapter 2 Melrose 11

Chapter 3 Two lives 16

Chapter 4 Lake Ontario 21

Chapter 5 Just like a movie 23

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Chapter 1 Emily

I love the movies. New movies and old movies are both my favorite.

I went to the movies a lot in Toronto. That was she who leaded me into

the world of movies. The story all started when I met Emily at the

movies.

Emily! We met in October. Four years ago. We met outside a cinema.

There was no snow but it was cold. It is usually very cold in Toronto in

fall. I was there to buy a ticket for a movie. I still remember it was Just

like heaven. She was there too, so I decided to talk to her. Just like that.

“Hi,” I said, “do you live around here?”

“Yes, I do. I live very near here,” she said. “Do you?”

“Me too,” I said.

She was nice. I liked her smile. She gave me her telephone number.

Before she went, she said, “Oh, you didn’t tell me your name yet.” I

laughed.

“My name is Brandon, Brandon Black.”

I phoned her the next day and asked her to come out with me. I

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planned that we could go to a Japanese restaurant and eat sushi.

Furthermore, it was cheap but nice. She agreed and told me that her

mother is Japanese, so she loves so much Japanese food. I was surprised

and thought I was really a lucky person who could ask a beautiful girl

out.

I went to her house at 7:30, to the address she gave me. We lived in

the same area of the city. It is a poor area. She lived with her mother who

was old and sometimes sick. I went in the house to wait for Emily.

“Look after my daughter,” her mother said to me.

“Sure,” I said and gave her my good boy smile for assuring her

worries. Her mother looked at me. Was I good for her daughter? I was

wearing my new shirt and jeans. Surely I looked good and handsome.

Emily and I went to Sato’s, the Japanese restaurant in downtown.

From that night it was our restaurant, our secret place. I started seeing her

a lot. We fell in love soon and we were happy together. I mean, really

happy. Like in a movie, in a love story. Three months later we went to

Sato’s restaurant again. I said, “Emily, I love you. I want to marry you

even though I was not rich enough to give you a comfortable life.”

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I was a handyman and I didn’t make much money and she was a teacher

in a kindergarten. She didn’t have much money either. Emily wanted to

get married with me. “Brandon,” said Emily, “money is not the most

important. The most important is we love each other and we feel happy

together. It is enough for me.”

“But, Emily,” I said. “If we want to get married and have children,

we need a lot of money. We also need car, clothes and a beautiful house.”

I always dreamed that one day I can move to Paris. I saw Paris in the

movies and I crazily wanted to live there.

When Emily and I talked a lot about money, she always smiled at me.

She believed that our love can conquer everything. But that was not what

I really hope, I need everything become true. Just like in the movies.

I love old movies. Emily and I went to the cinema every week, every

Saturday night. One Saturday we went to watch a movie called Dead

money. It was about a pair of poor couples, just like Emily and me. This

man and woman had an idea to make money. She knew a rich man even

though he was old and sick. This old man liked her because he was so

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lonely that he needed somebody to be with him. Then this woman

decided to marry him. Six months later, he died suddenly and she

inherited all his money. It was millions of dollars. She got the money and

married her young boyfriend and they were happy every after.

After watching this movie, I had some good ideas came out from my

brain. Emily and I went for a drink. “That’s it!” I said to Emily. “That’s it,

Emily! We can get money like that.” Emily looked at me and smiled.

“Please, Brandon,” she said, “don’t say those things. Money is not

everything! We do not need to do like that for making money. I feel very

happy with my life now and we don’t have to take a risk to do that.” “But,

Emily,” I said, “how can you say that? We must have money!”

Emily looked at me again and this time she didn’t smile. “Listen to

me, Brandon,” she said. “It is just a movie. It’s just a stupid movie.”

Stupid eh? Well, maybe it was not so stupid. I thought we should thank

for this movie because it inspired me to do the thing which benefits us.

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Chapter 2 Melrose

I was a handyman and worked on houses and office buildings in

Toronto. It was really a hard work but we earned little money. One day I

did some work in Rosedale, the rich area of Toronto. I was at a house and

it was a big house. I heard that the owner’s name is Melrose. People said

that she was very rich and quite young.

“Hello,” I said to her when I first time saw her. Beside that, I gave

her my best smile for impressing her. “Hi,” the girl said and smiled at me.

She was pretty and blonde. I always like girls with black hair like Emily,

but this blonde girl made me change my mind. She was so attractive and I

can say that in town, there must be lots of men who wanted to be with

her.

“I am the one who was sent here to fix your roof.” I said. “Oh, yes,”

she said. “Come in.” After that I can easily say she seemed very lonely.

There is only one girl living in a huge house. She could only face those

expensive furnishings everyday, but she could not do anything. After I

finished my work, she asked, “Would you like some coffee?” “Sure,” I

answered happily. We sat and talked in her kitchen. We talked nearly for

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an hour.

“You have a lovely house,” I said. She looked happy, but under her

smile, I thought there must be something hidden.

“Do you have any family?” I asked Melrose.

“No,” she said. “My parents died ten years ago because of an

accident. Furthermore, I don’t have any sisters or brothers. That was why

you could only see me living in this big house.” Her face was sad when

she explained this to me. I thought in secret it was really a good chance to

make some money from this poor little girl. I was happy when I thought

about that, but I still needed to pretend I felt so sorry for her. Before I left

her house, I asked her if she would like to go out to dinner with me. She

agreed without thinking too much.

I didn’t tell Emily anything about Melrose. I knew I still love Emily,

but we needed Melrose’s money. Two days later, Melrose and I went to a

restaurant. It was not the Japanese one that Emily and I go to. It was just a

little Greek restaurant near Melrose’s house.

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“Where do you work?” I asked her genteelly.

“Oh, I don’t really need to work,” she said. “My parents died and they

left me a lot of money.” I looked at her like I didn’t know.

“Oh, you know, sometimes I help in the school with those children. It is

because I like to play with children.”

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The waiter came with the bill. I looked at it and I was surprised that

it was so expensive even though we didn’t order too much.

“I want to pay,” said Melrose.

“No,” I said, “I asked you to come….”

“Listen,” said Melrose, “I know you are poor, but it is ok. I just want

to tell you I like you. So, let me pay this time.”

“Well…OK.” I smiled.

At the end of the evening, I asked her to come out with me again and

confessed to her that I really like her too. “Sure,” she said and smiled.

Melrose and I went out together for three months. It was difficult because

of Emily. I loved Emily and I would like to share everything with her, but

I could not tell her about my plan about making money. One night I went

out with Melrose, the next night I went out with Emily.

I only loved Emily, but I still treat Melrose very good. I sent her

flowers and gave her chocolates. After three months I gave her a ring. Of

course I could not afford very expensive ring, but she still liked it.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful,” she said. “You are so good to me!”

“Melrose,” I said, “I want to marry you and I would like to be with

you forever living in a big house.” She was so happy to hear that.

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“Oh, yes….yes!!!” she said.

She did not want expensive things or money. The only thing she

needed is love. And I was that one who could give her plenty of love. I

didn’t want to marry Melrose, but I wanted her money.

“Where are you going?” Emily asked one day.

“Oh, to see my friend Todd,” I said. Emily often stayed at home with

her sick mother. She could rarely come with me. So I give most of my

time to Melrose and at the same time I didn’t want her have any doubts

about getting married with me. I knew clearly I had to marry her and then

kill her. For the money, I needed to stay calm. I thought I need more time.

“Emily,” I said, “I have got to go to Vancouver for three months. I’ve

got a new job there.”

“Oh, Brandon,” said Emily, “I could go with you.”

“No, Emily,” I said impatiently. “You need to stay here and look after

your mother. It is not a long time. I will telephone you every day.” Then I

kissed her. “I can make some money in Vancouver and then we can get

married.”

Emily finally listened to me and decided to stay here and wait for me

in Toronto. Then Melrose and I got married.

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Chapter 3 Two lives

How can I kill Melrose? In the movie, it was easy. In Dead Money

the husband was old and sick. However, Melrose was young and healthy.

“Wait and see,” I said to myself. “Wait for an answer,” My life became

more and more difficult.

I thought that I was like an actor who had two lives. In front of two

women, I used different face to get along with them. When I was in

Vancouver, I phoned Emily every day.

“How’s Vancouver?” she asked me.

“Oh, everything is fine. But I want to see you again and I was

worried about you,” I said.

I kept questioning, “How can I kill Melrose?” A month passed.

One day I had a good idea when I walked on the street. The weather in

Vancouver was really bad lately. It was very windy and I needed to fix the

roof of the house again.

“Please come and help me on the roof, Melrose,” I said.

“No, Brandon,” she said. “I can’t. I’m afraid.”

“Oh please, Melrose. It is easy. I will help you,” I said.

She smiled and said OK.

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I saw this in a movie too. In High Drama, a man wanted to kill his

girlfriend to get her money. The guy took the girl on the roof and then

killed her. The police thought she fell by herself. In fact, it was him who

murdered her.

“Come with me, Melrose,” I said. I took the ladder and we climbed

up on the roof. Melrose was behind me. She gave me the tools and then

suddenly I fell back a little so that my hand touched the ladder.

“Oh, it is very windy here,” I said to Melrose. I pushed the ladder

again.

“Brandon,” she shouted, “Stop pushing the ladder. I will fall!” But I

pushed down more.

“I am sorry, Melrose. It’s so windy!” But then she moved a little and

I fell back. I almost fell of the roof, but I didn’t. Then we climbed down

the ladder.

“I’m sorry,” I said to Melrose when we were in the house. “It’s just

so windy that I could not hold very well the ladder.”

I worked in the movie, but it didn’t work for me. I didn’t know what

to do. I had to kill her quickly. Two days later, Melrose went out and I

didn’t have anything to do at home. I looked everywhere and thought

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maybe she was in the city and went shopping. I waited but she didn’t

come back. That night I phoned the police. They came to the house and

asked me a lot of questions.

“When did you last see your wife?”

“Where does she usually go?”

“Does she have family?’

“Did you have a fight with her yesterday?”

“Were you and your wife happy?”

So many questions made me annoyed. It looked like in a movie and

the police investigated somebody who was guilty. I didn’t know where

Melrose was. I just briefly answered their questions and told them we

were happy.

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When they left, I didn’t phone Emily. The police were watching me.

I knew that from the movies. It was better to wait and keep quiet.

A week later the police came back to the house. “There’s a killer in

Rosedale, Mr. Black,” they said. “There are three women dead.” They

thought that he was Melrose’s killer too. My face was sad.

“But where is she?” Her body…” I said. “What about her body?”

“We don’t know, Mr. Black,” said the police officer. “We just don’t

know… but maybe the lake… maybe we will never find your wife’s

body.”

“I cried like they do in the movies and I felt so proud that I looked

like an actor. It was easy because I was a big fan of movies. I put my head

in my hands and cried.

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I knew I just had to wait. Wait for the money. But I could not

wait anymore. There was a lot of money in the bank. Melrose didn’t have

any family, only me. The money should belong to me, but I could not

wait. I wanted eagerly to marry Emily and shared with her all I got from

Melrose.

That night I went to bed and thought about the money. How

could I get Melrose’s money? Then, before I went to sleep, I saw the

answer. On the little table next to the bed I saw her pen. It was her

beautiful silver pen, and there was her name on the pen: Melrose Black.

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Chapter 4 Lake Ontario

The next day I put Melrose’s pen in my pocket and I went to the

late. The weather was good and there were a lot of people near the lake. I

sat down and looked at the water. Then I put the pen near the water, but

not too near. Nobody saw me. I went home and I had to wait.

I didn’t wait a long time. The next day at five o’clock in the

afternoon, I had a telephone call and it was police.

“Mr. Black, I’m afraid we have some bad news,” said the

policeman. “Someone found your wife’s pen near the lake. They saw her

name in the newspaper, so they knew it was hers.”

“Oh,” I said. “So… she’s dead?”

“Well, Mr. Black,” said the policeman, “it looks really bad even

though we could not be totally sure if she’s dead or not.”

I put the phone down and smiled. The police thought Melrose

was dead. The money was mine, but I still had a problem. How could I

tell Emily that I had so much money now?

I watched a movie about a poor American guy. It was called Fat

Cats. This guy didn’t know that he had an aunt who lived in England. She

was very rich but she died, so that American guy could inherit all of her

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money because this woman didn’t have any children.

I telephoned Emily and told her, “We are rich and we don’t have

to worry about the money anymore. I am coming back from Vancouver.

My rich aunt has died and I have millions of dollars now.”

Emily laughed. “That’s wonderful, Brandon! We can get married

when you come back.”

“Yes,” I said, “we can do whatever we want now. We can buy a

house in Paris and live there happily forever.”

I went to the bank in the city and sent the money to a bank in Paris.

I bought two plane tickets, Toronto to Paris. I was so happy to have so

much money.

A few days later I met Emily and we took a taxi to the airport. The

sun was shining. We were rich. We are going to Paris.

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Chapter 5 Just like a movie

“It sounds good,” said Big Joe. Joe was my best friend and also my

only friend in prison.

“It is a great love story, bro. I really like it…but why are you here?”

he asked. “Why are you in prison? What happened to the happy ending?”

I smiled sadly at him. Happy endings were nice in the movies.

However, for me the ending wasn’t so nice. I had to stay in prison for five

years. I started to tell him the story.

“Well, everything was like I told you in the story. But there is more.

Emily and I arrived at the airport and then we checked in waiting for the

plane. Then two policemen walked towards us.”

“Are you Brandon Black?” asked one of them.

“Yes,” I said.

“We want to talk to you,” said the policeman. “Please come into the

room.”

We went into a small room. “It’s about Melrose Black and her

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money.” said the policeman.

“What…?” I didn’t know what to say. “What happened?” I asked.

“Where did you get the money for these tickets?” asked the

policeman.

“I…I…” I tried to speak but I couldn’t.

“Maybe we have someone who can help you,” he said.

He looked at the door and said, “Come in, please!” The door opened

and a girl with blonde hair walked in. I looked at her face. It was Melrose!

She was alive.

“What…what, what are you doing here?” I asked.

The older policeman smiled at me. “So, Mr. Black,” he said, “you

know this young woman.”

Melrose smiled and I could feel it wasn’t a nice smile. “Oh,

Brandon,” she said, “how stupid you are!”

Then Emily started talking. “We watched a movie together. It was

called Dead Money. In the movie the woman killed her old husband,” she

said. “You said it was a good idea to get money. I told you it was stupid.”

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I looked at Emily. She talked again. “Then I was at school one day,

when you were in “Vancouver”.” Emily smiled. “Melrose came to help

with the children at the school. We started to talk and later we went for

lunch.” She smiled at Melrose.

“We met a few times,” Melrose said, “I liked to talk to Emily and

soon we were good friends.” I told her about you and she told me about

her boyfriend. My husband and her boyfriend both had black hair and

blue eyes. They both liked movies and were both called Brandon.

“Yes, then I started to think they were the same person,” Emily

said, “then Melrose showed me a photo of her husband and it was you.”

“I told Emily about what happened on the roof,” said Melrose.

“You see, I was afraid. I knew you wanted to kill me because I saw your

horrible face on the roof.”

“When I heard Melrose’s story,” said Emily, “I knew that you

wanted to kill her, just like in the movie. When I thought about this, I

could not love you anymore.”

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I looked at Emily and she was crying.

“Emily thought it was a good idea to leave you,” said Melrose.

“Just go. There were the Rosedale killings, so it was easy. We knew the

police would think it was another killing. There were three women dead.

The body of one of them could not be found. I was really afraid. I talked

to Emily and then I decided to leave. You wanted to kill me!”

“So I found a small hotel in Toronto for Melrose,” said Emily, “and

Melrose stayed there. She seldom went out until you said your rich aunt

left you millions of dollars.”

Emily looked at me and the two policemen. “Well, you know the end

of the story,” she said.

“We just waited until you sent the money to Paris…my money,” said

Melrose. “I hate you! You never loved me! You only wanted my money!”

“But what did I do?” I asked. I looked at the policemen. “I didn’t kill

anyone.”

“No, Mr. Black,” said the policeman, “but you tried to kill this

young woman, you put the pen near the lake because you wanted the

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police to think that Melrose was head, and then you stole her money. You

are a stupid and dangerous man. You will go to prison for a long time.”

“So that was it. It was finished,” I said to Joe. “Emily didn’t love me

though I still thought I was intelligent. In fact, I was the most stupid man

in this world. I always thought I was good enough to be like the hero in

the movies, but actually it was not like what I thought. And now I got the

punishment I deserve.” I put my head in my hands and cried, just like the

day the police came and told me that Melrose was dead. But this time it

was real. I wasn’t acting. It wasn’t a movie.

“But Brandon,” said Joe, “this story could make you a lot of money

in Hollywood. You will be a millionaire and you don’t need to kill

anyone,” said Joe.

I looked at him and told him, “it is too late, Joe. Someone thought in

the same way as you before us.”

“Look at the newspaper!” I said.

Joe looked at the newspaper on the table. He read the headline: “Just

like a movie gets Oscar”. He looked at the photo of Emily and Melrose

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and then he turned to me.

“Yeah,” I said. “It is my story…They wrote my story and sent it to

some movie producers. They made my dream come true, but the one who

had money is them. And I could only stay in prison for five years. (Sigh)

That is life. It’s just like a movie.”

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Just like a movie

Honey Yang

Brandon Black likes movies. He goes every weekend with his

girlfriend, Emily. They are happy together, but they don’t have

money. Then Brandon has an idea and thinks that real life can be

just like a movie. And that’s when things start to go wrong.