Chapter 32: In the Public Eye

This can’t be real.

My brain stutters for a moment as my eyes take in more light than I expected, every part of me goes on pause while my thoughts catch up. My body was frozen from shock as if my legs were tied to the chair. My body was so rigid and tense that I didn’t even realize that I was already holding my breath. I squeezed my sweaty palms tightly as I stared at the news article before me. I shook my head, refusing to believe what I’m seeing.

I didn’t expect it to reach this point.

‘Kevin Butler under fire for an alleged sexual harassment case’

‘According to a video circulating online, it was revealed that Kevin Butler, famous celebrity, harassed a previous employee at KB Studios. The woman claimed that Mr. Butler sexaully assaulted her and damaged her property. A lot of netizens expressed their disappointment in Mr. Butler. However, there are also people who question the intention of the woman in the video. We have yet to hear news from Mr. Butler’s agency. What do you think about this video? Tell us in the comment section below.’

My heart beat was pounding relentlessly against my ribcage, threatening to burst out of my chest as my mind replayed the traumatic experiences I’ve had while working at KB Studios on a short loop. With my conscious mind I reiterated what Ellie told me the other day after the video was posted: there will be supporters and there will be haters. I have to stand my ground and remain firm no matter what they say.

I clearly didn’t listen to Ellie well enough and took her words to heart because when I saw the news article that came out about my post, I immediately started to feel sick. My eyes scanned the article multiple times, almost memorizing every word.

My stomach heaved unhelpfully but then I tried to keep a lid on it. My knuckles have become white from clenching my fists too hard and my face was pale from shock. Soon enough, my thoughts have tumbled just as fast as before as I felt tears form in my eyes. I placed my hand on my chest, counseling myself between each new horrific recollection.

Kevin’s inappropriate advances…

The rumors that he has spread about me…

The threatening text messages he sent me...

All of these memories swirled around my head until it became too overwhelming for me. Tears began rolling down my cheeks as I held my head in defeat. Even though the news article didn’t have any bias claims and I kind of expected this to happen, just the thought of this becoming a big thing suddenly frightened me, knowing that there will be people who will not believe me and will continue to ridicule me just like my colleagues in KB Studios.

It was his word against mine.

And as a woman who had no power whatsoever, his word would obviously be believed and mine would be disregarded and criticized.

The ringing sound of my phone interrupted my thoughts. I blinked several times as I quickly wiped my tears with the back of my hand. I rigidly turned to look at the source of the sound and saw that it was Ellie who was calling me. Relief consumed me as I quickly picked it up and answered it. I opened my mouth to speak, but Ellie immediately beat me to it.

“Did you see my text?” Ellie’s voice sounded happy and satisfied. I grimaced at the volume of her voice as I distanced it a little from my ear.

“Yes, I did…” I trailed off, still in shock. “Ellie, I didn’t expect it to get this big.” I admitted foolishly as I slumped back against my chair.

“I warned you that it would yesterday.” She replied with a sigh. “And what did you expect? We’re talking about Kevin freaking Butler, of course this will be big!” She stated matter-of-factly. I could already imagine Ellie rolling her eyes at me.

“This is bad, Ellie.” I said in disbelief as I looked away from the news article. I’ve had enough of it.

“It’s not! It’s good, Sandra! This is what we wanted - to make Kevin pay for the bad things he has done to you!” She said this with so much passion and anger that it somewhat motivated me too. Her energy was contagious and she was slowly passing some of it to me. “And I even researched and checked online the overall opinion of everyone who has heard about the news so far and 70% of the public are showing their support to you.”

I felt my heart sink to the pit of my stomach. “Only 70%?” I frowned, knowing how vicious the 30% would be.

“This is a good number, especially since he’s very well-known in the entertainment industry.” She assured, making me feel a little bit better. “Not only that, you have started a movement on Twitter. People are sharing their own personal experiences being sexually abused and taken advantage of by other people, especially other people in the industry in order to show support to you.” She added happily as my eyes widened in disbelief.

“What? They are?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. People actually believe me and want to support me? It seemed like a dream.

“Yes, go check it out for yourself. I’ll send you a link of the old and incoming tweets about the entire situation.” Ellie said as I immediately heard a ping coming from my laptop soon after. Wow, she was fast.

I opened her message and clicked the link. I scrolled down through Twitter to see the endless support people showered me. I read every single one of them as a small smile crept to my lips. They do believe me.

“I’m proud of you, Sandra.” Her words made me tear up. Not because of sadness but because of the overwhelming emotion I was feeling from the support of many people. I’m so glad all of these people liked the video I posted. It looks like everything is getting much better.

“Thank you for helping me out.” I told her as I bit my lower lip, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill.

“Oh what would you do without me?” She sounded dramatic and we both chuckled. “Oh! By the way, I need to go now. I forgot I still have to do something. Bye!” She babbled hurriedly as she tried to end the call. I didn’t get the chance to respond as she hung up.

I brought my attention back to my laptop and refreshed the page to see if there were still more tweets in support of what I did. I skimmed through everything. I saw some that were really heartwarming so I liked those tweets.

@lucccyyyfaer9201:
Her experience was also similar to mine. I hope I can also gain the courage to make my abuser liable for his wrongdoings.

@BaBygIrL_123:
As someone who also went through the same harassment, I can say that this is hard. I admire her for being this brave woman.

@Haem_staerMoon
I wept sadly as she finished her story. I really hope no one can experience something as horrible as this ever again. Kevin Butler, shame on you!!!

By the end of everything, I felt my heart grow warm with the overflowing encouragement of all these people. Words cannot describe how grateful I am to everyone who has supported me. I heard the ping of my cell phone that disrupted my thoughts. I checked to see who it was. It was Andy, a fellow colleague from KB Studios. He messaged me regarding the video I uploaded.

From: Andy

Hey, Sandra! I know it’s been awhile but I saw the video you uploaded. I’m really sorry for believing those rumors before. I didn’t know any better. I hope you can forgive me.

His message gave me strength. It strengthened me to know that my video really had a huge impact not only to regular people but also to people who worked in the industry. I really felt like justice has been served. I typed a reply and closed my phone.

As I was about to close my laptop, I saw a familiar profile photo on Twitter. I checked her profile to confirm whether it was really her. It was Dianne, another colleague of mine from KB Studios. I stalked her profile to see what she has been up to. However, a thread caught my attention. There were several tweets under it with pictures too. Reading the first two lines made my stomach twist in turn. I didn’t want to continue but I also didn’t want to stop because I had to know what she had to say. Each sentence she wrote down made all the warm feelings I had earlier disappear. It felt like a bucket of cold water washed away my fuzzy feeling and replaced it with a lingering chilly feeling. I thought we had a good relationship when I was still working in KB Studios. Unfortunately, it was only I who thought that way.

Why would she do that to me?